Donor-Advised Funds
Give Independently
What is a donor-advised fund?
A donor-advised fund (DAF) is a philanthropic giving vehicle that allows donors to make a charitable contribution by recommending grants to eligible nonprofits.
How do donor-advised funds work?
Benefits of donor-advised funds
Expedited and supported giving process
On top of being able to set up DAFs within days, DAFs provide donors with the administrative backend support to manage your grantmaking. This enables donors to be more strategic in their giving.
Access to professional management
Opening a DAF gives donors access to expertise and resources that might not be available to them otherwise. Impactful organisations are proactively sourced using a comprehensive screening process that can be prohibitively cumbersome and time-consuming for individual donors.
Meaningful way to engage family members
DAFs can bring together family members of the same or different generations to discuss shared values, priorities, interest areas and organisations to support. It can serve as a precursor to a family foundation enabling families to participate in the giving process with professional guidance. Some donors use DAFs as a convenient way to support causes outside of their family foundations.
Tax deductions
Making donations with DAFs allows donors in certain cases to take an immediate tax deduction for qualifying donations, while giving time for the donor to consider how the donation may be used.
Donor-advised funds vs foundations
DAFs are easy to set up and manage with significantly less administrative, legal and financial burden. A DAF with ACF gives you all the benefits of having your own giving vehicle with a professional team of philanthropy advisors.
A comparison can be found below.
| Donor-advised fund | Private foundation | |
| Set-up time | Fast | Slow |
| Set-up cost | Low | High |
| Resource demands | Medium | High |
| Degree of control | High | Complete |
| Scope of knowledge | Extensive | Varies |
| Access to experts | Extensive | Varies |
Why open a DAF at ACF?
A DAF with ACF enables donors to give purposefully in both Singapore and throughout Asia. Donors benefit from ACF’s team of professional advisors and extensive network of partners across the region.