A Donor-Advised Fund, or DAF, is a charitable giving vehicle administered by a public charity created to manage charitable donations on behalf of organizations, families, or individuals. Donor-advised funds are the fastest growing charitable giving vehicle in the United States by providing a flexible way for donors to pass money through to charities. Many individuals/businesses are choosing this method of charitable giving to support our local PTAs. Some of the more familiar giving funds are: Benevity Causes, Fidelity Charitable Giving, and YourCause.
Procedure
Every local PTA unit in good standing qualifies to receive donations through any DAF under the umbrella of Utah PTA, also known as Utah Congress of Parents & Teachers or PTA Utah Congress. Utah PTA has created and maintains accounts with every donor-advised fund. All donations processed through a DAF will be mailed to PTA Utah Congress using the Utah PTA office address of 5192 S. Greenpine Drive, Salt Lake City, UT 84123. Once donations are received in the office, Utah PTA will swiftly redistribute the donation to the intended PTA with a Utah PTA issued check. Please do not alter the address or name of any of the charitable donation accounts to ensure proper handling of current and future donations. All questions should be addressed to Utah PTA via email to kids@utahpta.org.
Description of Donor-Advised Funds
1. AmazonSmile Foundation: smile.amazon.com
AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon with the same products, prices, and shopping features as Amazon.com. The difference is when you shop through AmazonSmile, the Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to the charitable organization of your choice. This is a great way to earn money for your PTA through your community’s support. AmazonSmile provides links for marketing and tools to help you spread the word for support.
Due to the logistics of the Amazon website, this is one charitable organization which requires each PTA to create and maintain their PTA account.
2. Benevity Causes: causes.benevity.org
Benevity is a global leader in online workplace giving, matching, and volunteering. Some of the world’s most iconic brands rely on Benevity’s award-winning solutions to power their Goodness Programs and corporate philanthropy, helping them attract, retain, and engage today’s workers by connecting people personally to causes that matter to them. Donations come from single donors and employees of corporations set up with Benevity. In fact, most corporations will “match” their employee’s donations when using this vehicle of giving.
Utah Congress of Parents & Teachers has an account. Donors are instructed to list in the “Notes" section the name of the local PTA to which they are donating. Also, they are required to document the EIN of the charity to which they are donating.
The donation check will come to the Utah PTA office and upon receipt, the office will deposit and reissue a check to the local unit.
3. Fidelity Charitable Gift Funds: fidelitycharitable.org
Established in 1991, Fidelity Charitable is an independent public charity that sponsors the nation’s largest donoradvised fund program. Their mission has remained the same—to further the American tradition of philanthropy by providing programs that make charitable giving simple, effective, and accessible. As of 2019, they have 229,000 donors with 138,019 giving accounts available to support a non-profit/individual as they see fit. This is currently the largest giving fund through which the local PTAs are receiving outside donations.
The donation check comes to the Utah PTA office and upon receipt, the office deposits and reissues a check to the local unit.
4. YourCause: yourcause.com
Top socially responsible companies partner with YourCause to manage their employee giving, volunteering, and grants programs. Their platform flexibility meets the needs of companies of all sizes – from Fortune 500 to small businesses – driving engagement and facilitating impact within the non-profit sector. Some of the businesses who donate through YourCause are: AT&T, Best Buy, Chevron, CenturyLink, Dell, Samsung, Symantec, and many more.
Utah Congress of Parents & Teachers has an account. Donors are instructed to list in the “Notes" section the name of the local PTA they are donating to. Also, they are required to document the EIN of the charity to which they are donating.
The donation check will come to the Utah PTA office and upon receipt, the office will deposit and reissue a check to the local unit.
5. Other Corporate/DAF/Employee Funds:
- Adobe Employee/Company Giving
- Kohl’s Cares Program: Volunteer events are set up and funds are disbursed through Benevity Causes. Please contact Utah PTA state office to arrange events and volunteer opportunities.
- United Way Employee Giving
- Vanguard Charitable
- Walmart Foundation: Please contact Utah PTA and notify us when you secure a donation with your local Walmart. This will help us disburse the donations quicker when the checks arrive.