Law Commons^™

"I'D Gladly Pay You Tuesday For A [Tax Deduction] Today": Donor-Advised Funds And The Deferral Of Charity, Samuel D. Brunson

Faculty Publications & Other Works

In recent years, donor-advised funds have become an increasingly popular vehicle for charitable giving. In part, their popularity can be traced to a disconnect in the law: donor-advised funds look in many ways like private foundations, but the tax law treats them as public charities. This disconnect is advantageous to donors. Because Congress was worried about wealthy individuals' ability to take advantage of the control they can exercise over private foundations, it imposed a series of additional tax rules on private foundations. These rules, among other things, limit the deductibility of donations to private foundations, require that private foundations make …