Donor advised fund
Definition
A charitable account held by a sponsoring public charity. A donor contributes assets, takes an immediate tax deduction, and later recommends which nonprofits receive grants from the fund, often years later and without ever being named publicly.
Why it matters
Because sponsoring organizations are public charities rather than private foundations, donor-advised funds face lighter disclosure rules and can indefinitely shield the original donor's identity, making them an effective layer for anonymizing money before it reaches political or advocacy groups.
Seen in the wild
In 2022, reporting revealed that Barre Seid, a Chicago electronics executive, gave $1.6 billion in company stock to Marble Freedom Trust, run by Federalist Society co-chairman Leonard Leo,1 which then routed $41.1 million through Donors Trust, a donor-advised fund that redistributes to conservative and libertarian causes, obscuring the money's ultimate destinations.2