As flexible giving accounts, donor-advised funds support your regular and responsive giving. Learn more about increasing your charitable giving flexibility.
In this blog, learn how Vik Dewan and a team of experts are working to increase donor impact on important charitable causes.
This is the story of donor-advised funds. In a normal year, they are strong charitable engines that churn out donations and help power the philanthropic sector. But when the unthinkable happens, they are also equipped with a special extra gear. Not only do DAFs help respond to natural disasters, but evidence also shows that they can be a stabilizing force to the philanthropic world during economic downturns.
When you open a DAF account, your sponsor manages the administration, making your choice of partner critical. With more than 25 years of experience as a national DAF sponsor and industry-low fees, Vanguard Charitable has helped donors grant billions to organizations across the world.
Our focus is simple: keep costs low, stewardship strong, and attention where it belongs—on helping you maximize your charitable impact over time.
Charitable deductions are changing this year under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), but your donor-advised fund (DAF) is well-equipped to help you stay anchored to your giving goals and ensure your philanthropy continues to flourish.
Your DAF is a powerful change agent that’s designed to give you flexibility, tax efficiency, and ensure you can keep supporting your favorite nonprofits without interruption.
Under OBBBA, recommending smaller gifts may be less tax-efficient for high-net-worth donors. That’s because itemized charitable deductions now include a 0.5% AGI floor, wherein the first 0.5% of your adjusted gross income in charitable.
One approach to consider as you navigate this change is “bundling”—contributing multiple years of giving in a single tax year. This strategy may help you exceed the standard deduction, potentially reduce taxes, and simplify your giving, particularly during a high-income year.
With thoughtful planning now, you can amplify your giving and capture valuable tax savings.
If you’re ready to contribute, great! Donating assets can be done in 3 simple steps.
Recent tax changes under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) may influence how you give now, but it’s important to remember the savings power behind your Vanguard Charitable donor-advised fund (DAF) is steadfast. Your DAF is designed for fiscal efficiency and flexibility, helping your charitable dollars reach the causes you champion now and in the future.
Under OBBBA, itemized charitable deductions now include a 0.5% AGI floor. For high-net-worth donors, this can make smaller gifts less tax-efficient. A smart workaround is “bundling”— contributing multiple years of giving in a single tax year. This strategy may help you exceed the standard deduction, potentially reduce taxes, and simplify your giving as part of your retirement plan.
You may be ready to take action. Great! Donating assets can be done in 3 simple steps.
Exit planning requires early conversations to maximize the financial and philanthropic benefits of a business transition. Yet, strategic philanthropy remains an underutilized lever in traditional exit strategies.
Join Vanguard Charitable executives Mark Froehlich and Jodi Rosen at the 2026 Exit Planning Summit on April 19-21 in Nashville Tennessee for "The Third Lever in Exit Planning: Using Philanthropy as a Strategic Asset." Attendees will discover how integrating a donor-advised fund before a liquidity event can unlock hidden value, manage risks, and optimize tax outcomes that traditional strategies alone cannot achieve.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Once a donor opens a Vanguard Charitable account, they immediately have access to expert service and guidance, support for donating complex assets, and a curated list of low-cost investment options. The philanthropic support provided by a Vanguard Charitable DAF is oftentimes crucial to those with private foundations seeking to expand their philanthropy without increasing the cost of bringing on additional resources or expertise.
If you’d like to start experiencing these benefits for yourself, open a Vanguard Charitable donor-advised fund today.
For Vanguard Charitable donors, finding new charities to support is as simple as logging in to their online account and searching the charity database by charitable mission, region, and more. Vanguard Charitable does all the due diligence and gets grants out the door as recommended by our donors.
A DAF also allows donors to donate when it suits their financial plan and then recommend grants on a flexible timeline. With a DAF, you can cross “finding all the right charities for donations” off your ever-growing year-end checklist.
But if you haven’t yet created your Vanguard Charitable DAF account, we can still help you find a charity to support. Visit our Discover Charities page, where you can find resources for your search, lists of charities, and more.
Charitable tax planning is a strategic way to support the causes you care about while optimizing your tax plan. But that doesn’t mean it’s always easy.
That’s where we can help. With a Vanguard Charitable DAF, you can manage your charitable contributions more efficiently. You can donate a variety of assets to your account and then recommend grants to multiple charities over time. A DAF also simplifies your record-keeping while charitable assets can potentially grow over time, increasing the amount available for future donations.
Whether you’re a seasoned philanthropist or a first-time donor, consider enhancing your giving with these resources and using a DAF to make your giving tax-effective and impactful all year round.
Documents can be mailed to Vanguard Charitable at the following addresses.
Standard mail: Vanguard Charitable P.O. BOX 9509 Warwick, RI 02889-9509 | By registered, certified, or overnight mail: Vanguard Charitable 2670 Warwick Avenue Warwick, RI 02889-9509 |
Accounts having a balance below $25,000 may be subject to an annual maintenance fee of $250.
Our premier clients enjoy reduced pricing to further maximize their impact.
Our representatives are happy to guide you through.
