Posted March 28 2008 by Marc Lerman
Giving Jewishly
In September I started my position as Donor Relations Representative at the Jewish Communal Fund. What is the JCF, you may ask? I certainly did when I first arrived. However, in the six months since I started, I have learned much about the way the Jewish community is funded, how people give, and their motivations.
The Jewish Communal Fund is a donor-advised fund located in New York City. What a donor-advised fund does is simplify the charitable process. Let’s say you’re someone who gives $5000 to charity every year. You probably give anywhere from $200 to $1000 to many different places, to try and support as many places as possible. Come tax time, you have to find this pile of receipts to certify your donations to the government. What we do is simplify all of that. Instead of writing anywhere from 10 to 100 checks during the year, you make out one check to us for that larger amount and open a fund with us. You get one receipt from us for that total amount, and that is your tax deduction. The money is invested, tax-free, and grows as the market grows (not as much in the last 2 months, but still enough to make it worthwhile). When you want to send money to an organization, you send us a “grant recommendation” and we send the money to the organization for you, usually within 3 business days. There is no need for you to write dozens of checks or spend money on stamps. We do all the leg work for you. What happens if the organization is not in our database? We have someone here who researches these organizations to make sure they are certified tax-exempt by the IRS.
One of the biggest advantages in using a donor-advised fund is the anonymity that comes along with it. We are not required to disclose who makes contributions to us, and many people choose not to be listed in the annual report and have their names removed from the checks we send out. To me, that is the purest form of giving. People give away hundreds of thousands of dollars without telling anyone that the money is coming from them.
One way people open a fund is by opening it together. Not many people our age (generally the 22-30 crowds) have at least $5000 lying around, just waiting to be given away. What these people do is pool their money, even $100 or $200 donations, and group together to open a fund to support causes they believe in. Anyone can open a fund, and anyone can give to charity. We at the Jewish Communal Fund just try to make it easier for everyone. If anyone has any interest in opening a fund, please contact Abby Tucker, Vice President for Marketing and Donor Relations, at (212) 752-8277 ext. 13 or visit our website at Jewishcommunalfund.org
jewish, charity, donor, communal
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