Turning Gifts Into Grants

Charitable giving should work with the assets people own, the advisors they trust, and the causes they want to support.

A donor's ability to give is rarely reflected in the balance of a checking account. It may sit in appreciated stock, a stake in a family business, or property held for years. The decision to give often comes alongside another decision: selling a company, diversifying a portfolio, or planning what to leave to the next generation.

We think charitable giving belongs in those conversations. That means a giving institution needs to understand different kinds of assets, work with the people advising the donor, and take responsibility for ensuring the gift is used for its intended charitable purpose.

That's the work we do at Endaoment. We're an independent public charity and a national sponsor of donor-advised funds. We accept gifts across asset classes, administer charitable accounts, and make grants to the organizations donors recommend. We build the software behind those services, too, so donors can give through our app and institutions can offer giving through their own products.

Giving should reflect how people hold wealth

Cash, publicly traded stocks and bonds, private equity, real estate, pre-IPO shares, and digital assets can all have a place in a giving plan. Each comes with different questions about ownership, transfer, valuation, and sale. A gift of private company shares needs a different process from a cash contribution, even when both are intended for the same nonprofit.

Endaoment combines asset acceptance with a donor-advised fund program so those gifts can support a common charitable plan. Our team works with donors and their advisors on complex contributions, including reviewing whether and how we can accept a particular asset. We handle the conversion and administration needed to turn an accepted gift into funds available for grants.

For the nonprofit receiving the money, that complexity should not become another job. A local food bank shouldn't need to administer a private equity interest to benefit from a donor's success. We handle the asset donation and the donor's receipt, and the food bank receives US dollars through Chariot, our distribution partner.

A fund with a purpose

A donor-advised fund, or DAF, lets a donor contribute assets now and recommend grants over time. Once Endaoment accepts a contribution, it is an irrevocable charitable gift. Endaoment owns and administers the assets, and the donor retains advisory privileges over their charitable use.

The contribution may qualify for a deduction in the year it is made, subject to the rules for the donor and the asset. Grant recommendations can follow later. This lets a donor plan a contribution around a financial event without having to choose all recipients at once.

Those recommendations are subject to review. We check the recipient's eligibility, the charitable purpose, and whether the grant would provide a prohibited benefit to the donor or related people. Our work also includes anti-money-laundering and sanctions screening. Donors can search for more than 1.8 million nonprofits, with grants subject to eligibility requirements; international giving requires additional review.

Endaoment is a California-based 501(c)(3) public charity, classified under Section 509(a)(1), and a sponsoring organization of DAFs under Section 4966. We retain legal control and variance power over contributed assets, as set out in our fund agreement. Our board of directors oversees the nonprofit, and our staff is responsible for grant review, receipts, records, and the day-to-day administration of the funds.

Accountability as part of the service

Choosing a DAF sponsor means choosing an institution to own and administer charitable assets. Donors and advisors should be able to examine how that institution works.

We have our finances independently audited each year. You can read our published financial audit report and access our Form 990 filings and IRS determination letter. Our EIN is 84-4661797.

We also use a public transaction record to support our books. It lets people check the transfers recorded on that network without relying only on a statement from Endaoment. Personal information stays outside that record. We explain the design in Why Endaoment Is Built on Public Infrastructure.

Because we develop the software that administers those transfers, we commission outside reviews of it. OpenZeppelin reviewed our original smart contracts, and Least Authority reviewed V2. Our audit overview brings together the financial and technical reports.

Giving where financial decisions happen

An advisor who understands a family's finances should be able to help with its charitable plans. Endaoment lets advisors help clients establish funds and recommend grants. We also support advisor-managed investment portfolios under a separate agreement, with Endaoment retaining ownership and ultimate legal control of the charitable assets.

The same principle applies to financial platforms. Through the Endaoment API, institutions can offer giving within the products their customers already use. Endaoment remains the charitable recipient and DAF sponsor, with responsibility for donation receipts, grant review, and administration. A partner can build a giving experience without establishing and operating its own charitable organization.

We've built our own application and transaction software to develop these services together. Our team can work on how an asset is accepted, how an advisor helps a client, and how the resulting grant is processed as parts of the same service.

We judge that service by whether it helps more money reach nonprofits. A DAF gives people time to make thoughtful decisions, and we want that time to lead to grants. Our impact dashboard makes that activity visible.

Explore our giving services at endaoment.org, open a fund in the app, or read our documentation. If you have a gift, client need, or integration in mind, our partnerships team would be glad to help.

Endaoment does not provide tax or legal advice. Please consult your own CPA or attorney about your specific situation.