A donor advised fund (DAF) is a separate fund or account held and controlled by a 501(c)(3) public charity. The donor or a designee of the donor has advisory privileges over the use of the funds.

The Internal Revenue Code (IRC) defines a DAF as

Participants at the International AIDS Conference that took place in Durban, South Africa, July 2016. Thanks to their organizations and the massive participation of civil society organizations, policymakers, scientists, and governments, the conference was a great success. (Image: Tomas Chang Pico/ Hivos)

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As previously posted on our blog, the IRS recently issued Notice 2017-73, a “Request for Comments on Application of Excise Taxes With Respect to Donor Advised Funds in Certain Situations.” The IRS Notice primarily summarizes three new regulations that the IRS is proposing to introduce regarding the operation of DAFs by 501(c)(3) sponsoring organizations.

Twenty-six years ago, five women in Mexico identified reproductive rights as a public health and social justice problem that needed to be addressed through bioethical, social, and legal advocacy. So they decided to do something about it and founded the Information Group on Reproductive Choice (GIRE). Since then, GIRE has grown into a leading reproductive rights organization with a staff of 40 specialists in different disciplines, all committed to the defense of women's human rights.

Public charities under U.S. tax law are divided into several categories. The most common are charitable entities that are "publicly supported." A charitable organization is publicly supported under U.S.

As NGOsource embarks on its 5th year anniversary, we are pleased that we have facilitated well over an estimated $1 billion in international philanthropic giving and received our 4,000th ED request! NGOsource continues to support international grantmaking at an exponential rate - it took us three and a half years to hit 2,000 requests, 9 months to reach 3,000, and less than six months to eclipse 4,000 requests. This is all due to the commitment that our grantmaker members have made to NGOsource’s shared repository model and the sector on the whole.

As discussed in previous posts, a nonprofit organization that is organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes may be deemed a public charity and not a private foundation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) in one of three principal ways.

In prior posts we discussed the different categories of public charities. They include publicly supported charities that qualify as such because they are both organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes and they meet a mathematical public support test.

In Notice 2017-73, issued by the IRS on December 4, (the “Notice”), the IRS announced how it expects to address proposed regulations on donor advised funds (“DAFs”). This is not the first time the IRS has issued interim guidance requesting comments on proposed DAF rules. The Notice draws on earlier requests for comment, dating back to 2006 when DAFs were officially introduced to the Internal Revenue Code.

As discussed in other posts, a nonprofit organization that is organized and operated for charitable purposes may be deemed a public charity — and not a private foundation — if it is specifically defined in the Internal Revenue Code as a qualifying charity by the nature of its activities.