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Give Through Your Donor Advised Fund

A donor-advised fund (DAF) is a simple, flexible type of giving that allows you to easily support your favorite causes.

As a donor, you have the option of directing gifts to a charitable organization through a donor-advised fund. Your contribution to qualifying DAFs is treated by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a charitable contribution at the time that it’s made. You then gain the flexibility of advising the DAF when and to which charitable organizations you’d like to make a gift.

How to recommend a gift to City Harvest?

When you recommend a gift to City Harvest through your DAF, your gift will help sustain our work, keeping our trucks on the road, day and night, delivering food to New Yorkers in need. Gifts like these not only help us meet the immediate need for food in our city, but also have the ability to impact generations to come—you can name City Harvest as part of your estate planning and legacy philanthropy.

You can recommend a gift to City Harvest now through your donor advised fund using the DAF Direct link located on this page. Simply enter the amount and click “next” to complete your recommendation. Alternatively, you can contact the host of your DAF directly to recommend a grant.

Please note that some DAFs may not notify City Harvest of your gift. In order to ensure we know that you donated (and the purpose of your donation), please alert Lauren Anderson at [email protected].

What are the IRS guidelines around donor-advised funds?

The donor will not receive an income tax charitable deduction when a grant is made to City Harvest from a donor-advised fund since the tax benefit was already received when donating to the DAF.

A grant from a DAF cannot be used to fulfill a legally enforceable pledge or result in the donor or any related party receiving more than an incidental benefit. Raffle tickets, tickets to special events, auction items, and benefits conferred in connection with the DAF grant are not permitted. This includes partial payment of a table, ticket, or sponsorship of City Harvest’s special events.

A donor may still support an organization through a DAF gift if the donor declines all benefits that would have otherwise been provided as a result of the gift.

A donor’s receipt of a benefit that is more than incidental may result in challenges for the entity maintaining the DAF (e.g., loss of tax-exempt status) and/or the donor and/or family member (e.g., significant excise taxes). It could also put the charitable organization to which the gift was given at risk of losing future funding from the DAF. For more information about IRS guidelines, please see the IRS Donor-Advised Funds Guide Sheet Explanation. To inquire about your personal legal or tax situation, please consult your own professional advisor.

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