By Elizabeth Brown
October can be a spooky and fun time of year. There’s the Oct. 15 tax extension deadline for those of us who like to live dangerously. Then we roll right into Halloween and the holiday season. For the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys, it also means grants season. And for most nonprofits and charities throughout the Keys, it means the beginning of giving season.
We’re already seeing the signs of giving. Our seasonal residents are trickling back. Nonprofit events are kicking into gear. And before long, those year-end appeals will start appearing in our mailboxes and inboxes. Those are all great things, but what if there was an additional way to make charitable giving easier and potentially more impactful? Cue the DAF.
A donor-advised fund, or DAF, is a charitable giving account. You contribute to the fund now and then recommend grants to your favorite nonprofits. We invest the money so your fund grows and over time you have even more to give. DAFs let you separate the when from the where for charitable giving, allowing you to make a bigger impact on your own timeline.
That can be particularly useful for tax planning. You might “bunch” several years of charitable contributions into one year when it makes sense to itemize. And if the stock market has been good to you, appreciated stock can also be a very tax-efficient way to fund your giving. (This is the part where I remind you to talk to your tax advisor.)
But there are lots of places to open a DAF. So why have one with your local community foundation? This is where I get to be a little biased.
When your DAF is here, you don’t just have a charitable account. You have local people who spend their days talking with nonprofits, donors and community leaders throughout the Florida Keys. We know what’s happening locally, and we help connect donors with opportunities they might not otherwise know about. We think of it as philanthropic matchmaking.
An example of that matchmaking is our In Paradise for Good grants program. Applications closed last week, and we’ll make awards next month. In between, we’re sharing those opportunities with our DAF holders and asking if they’d like to join us. Last year, those additional grants helped push our collective In Paradise for Good grantmaking past the $1 million mark for the first time ever.
We make these connections all year long. Right now, two DAFs at the Community Foundation are offering matching dollars to support Wesley House Family Services’ Inez Martin Child Development Center in Key West for their food program and childcare scholarships. These matching dollars mean everyone else’s gifts go a little further together.
There’s one more piece I particularly like. The fees from our charitable funds stay here, too, supporting the work of the Community Foundation — including our Center for Nonprofit Excellence and the programs we provide to strengthen local nonprofits, like our upcoming Leadership Success Academy.
So your charitable dollars support local organizations. Your fund helps support the infrastructure behind local philanthropy. And we help you figure out where you can make a difference. It’s nice synergy.
October 8 is National DAF Day (yes, there really is a day for everything), and Oct. 19-25 is National Estate Planning Awareness Week. While those may not rival Halloween candy for excitement, both are good reminders that charitable giving doesn’t have to begin and end with the check you write today. Tune into our socials to learn more or reach out to our team at cffk@cffk.org.
Because whether you’re thinking about this year’s giving or the legacy you eventually leave behind, a little planning can make your generosity go a long way. And it doesn’t get any sweeter than that.
Elizabeth Brown is president and CEO of the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys, whose mission is to connect people with resources to fill needs in the local community. More information is at cffk.org.
