The Sacramento Region Community Foundation offers your clients a proven alternative to a private family foundation. From your very first conversation with a family about their giving through the day-to-day work of grantmaking, our team can play as large or as small a role as makes sense for them.
Conversations about wealth and philanthropy can surface real tension within families. Whether we’re at the table or working quietly behind the scenes, our team helps you and your clients navigate the issues that most often arise: communication, decision-making, and shared charitable priorities. We can:
- Serve as a coach for thoughtful, intentional, and inclusive family conversations, even in a simple “icebreaker” role.
- Facilitate discussions so that every voice is heard, particularly when perspectives differ across generations.
- Help a family design a phased approach, starting with conversations about shared values and building toward specific funding and allocation decisions.
Some families choose to keep their private foundation and add a Donor Advised Fund at the Foundation, using both side by side. In this blended approach, our team can serve as a sounding board for grantmaking from either vehicle and work alongside a family’s tax advisors to help each vehicle do what it does best.
Other families find that a Donor Advised Fund meets all their charitable giving needs on its own, particularly once they see how much administrative work — tax filings, compliance, reporting — it takes off their plate. Some ultimately choose to close their private foundation and transfer its assets into a Donor Advised Fund at the Foundation.
A Donor Advised Fund can do almost everything a private foundation does, with greater privacy and none of the burden of maintaining a separate legal entity, thanks to the Foundation’s umbrella 501(c)(3) status. That said, there are meaningful differences your clients should understand:
- Tax-Smart Giving: Gifts to a fund at the Foundation carry more favorable deduction limits than gifts to a private foundation — up to 60% of adjusted gross income, compared to 30% for a private foundation gift.
- Increased Impact: Assets contributed to a fund at the Foundation are invested by our team to align with your client’s granting timeline, and they grow tax-free. Private foundations, by contrast, pay a 1.39% excise tax on net investment income.
There’s also the simpler, quieter benefit of peace of mind. When a client opens a fund at the Foundation, compensation rules, expense oversight, expenditure responsibility, tax filings, and the risk of inadvertent self-dealing all become our responsibility, not theirs. Many of the funds we steward today started out as private family foundations, until families decided it was time to simplify. For many, our team’s deep knowledge of the capital region’s needs and strengths becomes a real asset in shaping their giving.
Every family’s situation is different, and a private foundation remains the right fit for some. We’re always glad to talk through the options with you and your clients; please reach out to learn more about how a Donor Advised Fund might fit into their plans.
Maximize Your Clients’ Philanthropy
It’s easy and rewarding to set up a charitable fund with the Sacramento Region Community Foundation. We’re here to help you create the right giving account for your clients’ goals — so they can enjoy the benefits of flexible service, effective investments, and local impact.