Henry Bush for many years was a trusted and valued advisor to CVI as our banker. During his years of service, he grew to care deeply about our mission, which inspired his personal giving as a monthly donor. Henry retired in 2022 but a few years before that life-event, he followed his own good advice and established a donor advised fund. Why? A donor advised fund offers individuals a way to maximize their giving while providing tax benefits, simplicity, growth, and flexibility.
In their planning, Henry and his wife Lucy felt his impending retirement offered the opportunity to rebalance their investment portfolio while eliminating the tax consequences of doing so. A donor advised fund was a great choice because they received an immediate tax deduction for the full value of the money placed in the fund in the year they made that donation. It also offered more flexibility in their giving. They have charitable interests they support both individually and as a couple. In establishing their fund, they discussed how much they wanted to give to charity over a period of years and they set that as the initial fund amount. The donor advised fund allows them to now direct grants to the charities they care about without having to write checks from their current income.
“While our fund started out as a tax savings benefit, we discovered that deciding on the grants each year is a lot of fun.” he said. Something else he has noticed is that they tend to give larger amounts than previously because they are giving from money that has been set aside and committed to their heartfelt purposes beyond their own needs.
“And, because the money we put into the fund continues to grow tax free, we have more capacity to give and really make a difference with our support of CVI.”
Want to follow Henry’s example?
Establishing a donor-advised fund is relatively straightforward. Many community foundations and financial institutions offer DAF services, making it easy to set up and manage a fund. The administrative tasks, such as record-keeping, tax reporting, and distributing grants, are typically handled by the sponsoring organization, relieving you of those responsibilities.
If you have an established fund, CVI will gratefully receive your gift. Simply visit our website here and follow the easy prompts to become a donor today.