Slippery Slopes: Should Donor Advised Funds Grant To or Receive Contributions From Hate/Discriminatory/Mission-Antithetical Groups?

If you don’t operate a donor advised fund, the answer is a millisecond, “Of course not!”  If you do operate a donor advised fund, these issues come up more and more, and determining when to say, “Unfortunately, we aren’t going to accept an asset like that, or from that group or grant to that organization,” can be a very challenging, polarizing, controversial process.  Many say that our country has never been this divided (we did have a Civil War!) – whether factual or not, donors, particularly wealthy ones, want to use philanthropy to move needles and have impact.

This topic was suggested as a continuation of a great group conversation at the National CGP conference with community foundation and donor advised fund sponsors.

Our webinar will cover:

• The four types of donor advised fund structures
• Legal and practical donor advised fund considerations
• Various worldviews at the staff, donor, management, Board and community level
• Asset/Donor scenarios we have seen that may create deep discussion/tension
• Grant scenarios we have seen that may create deep discussion/tension
• Endowment fund restrictions that may create deep discussion/tension
• A decision framework for how DAF sponsors might approach these sticky situations
• What additional tools/vendors exist to help charities with these issues

Warning:  Many of these scenarios will be political and controversial – that is kind of the point.  This webinar is NOT about encouraging/advising specific action or taking specific positions.  And this is NOT about attendees weighing in on what is “right” or “wrong.”  Our goal is to provide the start of decision-making framework for these situations.

Please review the recording of the webinar featuring Bryan Clontz, Ph.D., CFP®, AEP®, CAP® and Tony Macklin, CAP®, Senior Consultant, Ekstrom Alley Clontz & Associates (a strategic planning and management consulting firm to community foundations).