Donor Advised Funds - An Easy Way to Give Back to Ball State
One the fastest-growing and most convenient ways to support your favorite charitable causes is through a donor advised fund.
Ball State University Foundation offers this charitable giving program which allows you to simplify and consolidate your philanthropy while directing funds to Ball State and other charitable organizations. A donor advised fund is also a convenient, cost-effective alternative to commercial charitable gift funds or the legal complexities and expense of establishing and operating a private foundation.
"It allows you to organize and manage your philanthropy, and you can get your entire family, company, or organization involved in the process," said Jan Passmore, '63, president of Cardinal Funds, Inc., a subsidiary of the Ball State Foundation which manages its donor advised funds. "It's much like setting up your own private foundation without the cost or complication."
A donor advised fund is a great way to give directly to programs you are passionate about and make a lasting impact. The Johnstons, Michael, '77 MA '81, and Jackie, '64 MA '67, are thrilled they started their donor advised fund because they can give to multiple programs throughout the year.
"It's your philanthropic fund that's there to use at your discretion, when you have the time to think about it and decide what programs you want to support - at Ball State, within your community, and beyond," said Jackie.
Michael added, "We want to support many different areas, so having a donor advised fund will take care of us sending out multiple checks when we want to give to multiple programs. "
For business owner Murray Bartholome, the ability to track his charitable giving throughout the year through a private, password-protected online dashboard is very appealing. In addition, grants from his donor advised may be made in his personal name, company name, or anonymously as he may choose.
"We are solicited frequently for donations from charitable organizations," said Bartholome, owner of Midwest POS Solutions, Inc. in Anderson, Indiana. "They usually come back year after year, and we like to give consistently. The donor advised fund allows us an easy mechanism to track what we've given, to whom, how frequently, and how much."
"It was also an interesting vehicle to support Ball State's successful Cardinal Commitment athletic campaign," Bartholome added.
Chuck Harper and his siblings knew they wanted to make a contribution to Ball State while also maintaining a relationship with the University after their gift was made, and a donor advised funds allowed the Harper family to do exactly that.
"It's like a mini-family foundation," said Harper. "You need to make a larger gift than we were able to make to set up a family foundation, and a donor advised fund at Ball State gave us the opportunity to do something that we could do on our scale but still have the flexibility as if it were a foundation."
Still another advantage is that you receive an income tax charitable deduction for the year of your contribution, but you can make grants from your fund in future years if you like.
"Our donor advised fund gave us the flexibility to make contributions now or whenever it made most financial sense and most tax sense, and to make the contributions when they would help Ball State most in the way we wanted to help them," said Harper.
Show Your Passion at BSU
If you would like to extend your support of Ball State after your lifetime, there are numerous gift options to choose from. To learn more, contact D. Mark
Helmus at 765-285-8312 or [email protected].
The information on this website is not intended as legal or tax advice. For such advice, please consult an attorney or tax advisor. Figures cited in examples are for illustrative purposes only. References to tax rates include federal taxes only and are subject to change. State law may further impact your individual results.