From the Blog: BDQ #8 – What Is a DAF? (Hint: ‘D’ Stands for Donor)

Donor advised funds (DAFs) have certainly had their share of headlines recently. Proposed regulations seemed designed to limit investment options and impose excise taxes. Then an extended comment period and a public hearing fueled speculation that this could spell the end of the fastest growing segment of American Philanthropy – or maybe just level the playing field for private foundations by limiting some of the advantages of DAFs. That came atop years-long – and largely baseless – fretting that DAFs are a tax shelter, somehow allowing the wealthy to warehouse vast sums of money and keep it from being used for charitable purposes, and the looming threat of legislative proposals that could radically revamp the landscape for DAFs and community foundations.

With all the noise, it’s been easy to lose sight of one the most important players in the DAF story, namely, the donor. In fact, while the charitable beneficiary is the raison d'être for a DAF, the donor is the most important player because, it goes without saying, there would be no DAF if it weren’t for the donor.

Read the blog post . . .

Things We Are Following:

IRS and Department of Treasury Held Public Hearing on Proposed DAF Regulations

The proposed regulations governing donor advised funds were the subject of public hearings last week. Thirty-five individuals offered comments at the in-person hearing on May 6 and another nine provided comments via teleconference the following day. Among the presenters were representatives of community foundations and other charitable organizations as well as the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), American Institute of PCAs (AICPA), American Bar Association (ABA), and the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC).

Among the concerns expressed were:

• The proposed regulations introduce additional compliance burdens which could trigger a further decline in charitable giving at a time when individual giving has been suffering.
• Including investment advisors within the definition of donor advisors confuses the distinction between a donor who is prohibited from benefiting from a DAF and the cost of professional services required to administer the DAF.
• The broadened definition of donor advisor could encompass certain funds held by public charities that have advisory committees.

The IRS has also received written comments, including a letter signed by a bipartisan group of 33 members of the House of Representatives calling the proposal overly broad and warning of a chilling effect on charitable giving. The comments by the House members are a shift from 2021 when the House & Senate considered the Accelerating Charitable Efforts (ACE) Act would have mandated sweeping changes to donor advised funds and community foundations.

The IRS has not indicated a timeline for final regulations. A transcript of the comments (141 pages) is available on the Tax Notes website.

CGA State Compliance Was a Key Theme at the ACGA Conference

CGA state compliance was a topic of conversation at the 2024 ACGA conference in Houston. Our own Julia Boerth and Julie Goldenberg Hay presented State Regulations: What You Need to Know to an engaged audience, including a member of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners invited by the ACGA. Despite the dry topic, audience members were motivated to learn, understand, ask questions, and engage with one another and the presenters. The group discussed differences in the varying levels of gift annuity regulations among the states, how the regulations may apply to each organization, the various players involved in gift annuity registration, and ongoing compliance both inside and outside organizations.

Attendees returned for the workshop session, a new format for ACGA conferences whereby presenters speak for 75 minutes followed by a 30-minute break and then another 75-minute workshop to drill down into the topic further. Audience members were particularly interested in how to ensure CGA marketing materials comply with state requirements, as well as how to identify the states where an organization might be registered, particularly when staff has changed and organization documentation is limited. The ACGA state regulations website provides valuable information and is worthy of bookmarking for easy reference: 
www.acga-web.org/state-regulations

ACGA Rates Will Not Change

David Ely, leader of the Rates and Regulations Committee at the American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA), confirmed at the recent ACGA Conference in Houston that the ACGA will not be changing its suggested maximum gift annuity rates at this time.

Ordinarily, changes to the ACGA’s suggested maximum annuity rates take effect on either July 1 or January 1. The ACGA’s announcement that rates will not be changing means the rates that became effective January 1, 2024 should remain in effect at least through the end of this year. It would take a dramatic change in interest rates between now and the end of the year for that outlook to change.

See You Soon at a Conference Near You 

In addition to the ACGA conference, PG Calc is attending a number of conferences this spring. Here’s where we’ve been and where we’ll be:

May 8: Planned Giving Group of New England’s (PGGNE) Annual All Day Conference. Craig Wruck led the pre-conference workshop on his Fundamentals of Planned Giving, and many of us were able to attend the conference.

May 13-15: Carolinas Planned Giving Conference 2024. Dave Wolfe was offering up his version of Southern charm in Hendersonville, NC.

May 21-23: Southern California Council of Gift Planners’ Western Regional (WRPGC) Planned Giving Conference. Come say hello to Emi Loveridge at the PG Calc booth.

May 22: Chicago Council on Planned Giving’s (CCPG) Annual Symposium. Jeffrey Frye will be representing PG Calc in the Windy City.

May 24: Philanthropic Planning Group of Greater New York’s (PPGGNY) 2024 Planned Giving Day. Say hello to Dave Wolfe between sessions.

June 6: National Capital Gift Planning Council’s (NCGPC) 2024 Planned Giving Day. Gary Pforzheimer will be in Washington, DC for Planned Giving Day.

June 10-12: National Partnerships for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation's June Philanthropy Forum Meeting. Andrew Palmer will be in Providence, RI, so please stop by to say hello.

After that, we’ll take a few weeks to catch our breath before hitting the road again in August. See our full conference lineup on our website.

Foundation Source Launches Website Services for Foundations

As another example of the new opportunities being created by PG Calc becoming part of Foundation Source, our Marketing Services team is assisting with the launch of a new Website Services offering to private and corporate foundations looking to create or enhance their foundation websites. Through a company-wide collaboration, this new website service offering is already up and running.

Craig Wruck to Offer Fundamentals of Planned Giving Webinar Series in July

Craig Wruck, nationally-known planned giving expert and PG Calc Senior Advisor, will repeat his popular Fundamentals of Planned Giving course as a series of four weekly PG Calc Webinars. Craig combines a deep technical understanding of the topic with a widely-admired talent for focusing on what is important and making gift planning concepts easy to grasp. Major topic areas he will cover are: Tax Fundamentals, Basic Planned Giving Methods, Assets Used for Charitable Contributions, and Advanced Planned Giving Methods.

All sessions are presented from 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM ET. All registrants will receive a replay of each session, typically within two business days of the live session. Each replay will be available for a limited time and viewable any number of times during that period.

• July 9, 2024 - Part 1
• July 16, 2024 - Part 2
• July 23, 2024 - Part 3
• July 30, 2024 - Part 4

Learn more about the Fundamentals series and sign up here.

PG Calc’s Client Services Team Helps Cardinal Glennon Children’s Foundation Redirect Restricted CGA Funds to Unrestricted Revenue

“We reached out to PG Calc at the request of the Finance Committee of our Board to perform a financial analysis on our charitable gift annuity program with the direction to assess its performance. Many aspects of the program were reviewed under the direction of a highly competent team of PG Calc experts, led by Jeffrey Frye. The evaluation was complex and comprehensive; his team made a formidable review flow smoothly. Consequently, we learned a great deal in the process. Accordingly, we were able to redirect a significant amount of restricted revenue to unrestricted and adopted their recommendations to implement a method for tracking the evaluation of financial performance, per contract, going forward. The Board was pleased with the outcome.”

-- Rose Brower
Director of Planned Giving
SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Foundation

Learn more about Cardinal Glennon Children’s Foundation.

The CGA program analysis was conducted by PG Calc’s incredible Client Services team. Learn more about how PG Calc’s Client Services team can help you.