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By Luis Fortes, CSPF, Major Gifts Officer
Secure Your Philanthropic Legacy: The Importance of Naming a Beneficiary for Your DAF
Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) have become a popular way for individuals to grow their assets while supporting meaningful causes. With tax advantages and the flexibility to direct funds to charities over time, DAFs offer donors a seamless way to make an enduring impact. By naming Community Servings as a beneficiary, you can ensure that your contributions will support life-changing work and provide lasting financial sustainability for our mission.
What Is a DAF?
A Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) is a flexible, tax-efficient charitable giving account that allows you to make tax-deductible contributions, invest those funds for growth, and recommend grants to nonprofit organizations, like Community Servings, at your convenience.
With DAF assets totaling over $251 billion and nearly 2 million DAFs in place today, this model is revolutionizing the way people engage with philanthropy. But there’s an important step that often gets overlooked: naming a successor or charitable beneficiary to receive the remaining funds after your lifetime.
Without this designation, your philanthropic intentions may remain unfulfilled, or worse, go to causes that don’t align with your values.
Why Choose Community Servings?
Community Servings provides medically tailored meals and nutrition services to individuals facing critical and chronic illnesses like cancer, HIV/AIDS, high-risk pregnancies, and more. By designating Community Servings as a DAF beneficiary, you ensure that your generosity continues to support neighbors who are experiencing severe and complex health and nutrition challenges.
A DAF gift to Community Servings doesn’t just help maintain our vital services—it fuels the long-term sustainability of our mission. Your support ensures we can reach more individuals across Massachusetts and Rhode Island, providing them with the essential nourishment they need to regain strength and improve their health outcomes. DAFs also help fund the development of new nutrition interventions, like medically tailored groceries, which may be appropriate for individuals who do not qualify to receive medically tailored meals.
When you name Community Servings in your planned giving, you’ll also be welcomed into The Bernie Smith Legacy Society. This group recognizes donors who make an enduring commitment to our mission and the people we serve.
The Benefits of Naming a DAF Beneficiary
- Leaving a Lasting Legacy: Your charitable values will live on through the causes you care about most.
- Easy to Implement: Naming or updating a beneficiary takes less than 10 minutes and can be done online.
- Tax Advantages: Remaining funds in your DAF will transfer to Community Servings without tax penalties, ensuring your gift makes the maximum impact.
- Exclusive Recognition: As a member of The Bernie Smith Legacy Society, your generosity will be celebrated, both now and for generations to come.
- Transformative Impact: DAF gifts are not just helpful-they’re essential. For example, a $10,000 gift funds five years of meals for an individual with a severe chronic illness. A $100,000 gift affords a dedicated, fuel-efficient vehicle to deliver meals across Massachusetts. And a $1M+ gift creates long-term sustainability, expanding our services for the next decade and beyond.
How to Name Community Servings as a Beneficiary
Selecting Community Servings as your DAF beneficiary is a simple process that takes less than 10 minutes. Here are a few simple steps to help you get started:
- Contact your DAF sponsoring organization (Fidelity Charitable, National Philanthropic Trust, Schwab Charitable, etc.) and request a Beneficiary Designation Form. You will need to provide:
- Our legal name: Community Servings Inc.
- Our EIN number: 22-3154028
- The percentage that you wish to elect. 100% would make us your sole charitable beneficiary.
- Once your DAF sponsoring organization confirms your updated information, please let us know so we can thank you and officially welcome you as a new member into The Bernie Smith Legacy Society.
For more details about planned giving or joining The Bernie Smith Legacy Society, contact our team today. Your future gift ensures your generosity continues to make a profound difference—one meal, one neighbor at a time.
Donor Advised Fund Data Sources:
https://blog.candid.org/post/5-takeaways-2024-daf-donors-fundraising-report/