Relatively few companies manage have set up corporate donor-advised funds.

Though there are 1 million donor-advised fund (DAF) accounts in the country, many clients are still not aware of how they can help them in their desire to support the charities and causes that are important to them.

The need for content and guidance in the past few years has been greater than ever before, as clients realize that establishing a charitable vehicle is only step one in achieving their charitable goals.

Here are 12 types of clients who have recently established DAF accounts with the assistance and encouragement of their financial, legal, tax advisors.

Because donors want the organizations they support to succeed and survive, they and their advisors have inquired how their DAF sponsors can be helpful in their quest.

Clients are now meeting with their accountants to review the past year and look ahead. Charitable giving has become much more prevalent in those annual conversations as a result of the tax law changes at the end of 2017.

Here are the types of clients who are the most interested in establishing DAFs.

One of the biggest benefits of attending the recent Heckerling conference was meeting with the leading estate planning attorneys and wealth advisors, and hearing about their conversations with clients about charitable giving and planning.

For many reasons, 2018 has become another record-breaking year for donations to donor-advised funds (DAFs). Donations for the first three-quarters of the year have increased 184% to American Endowment Foundation (AEF) DAF. Gifts to the many newly-established DAF accounts and additional gifts to already-established accounts are up significantly.

It is essential that advisors proactively talk with their clients to determine if a DAF would be appropriate, how much and which assets should be donated, and which DAF sponsor would be ideal since on their own, the clients may select the wrong one.

The types of clients who have established or who would be excellent candidates to create donor-advised funds include the following.

Advisors usually understand how donor-advised funds (DAFs) work, their tax benefits and how they can manage the investments in their clients’ DAF accounts. However, advisors need to help explain their benefits in comparison to donating directly to a charity.