February 01, 2022

Catholic Law Professor Roger Colinvaux published a letter to the editor in The Chronicle of Philanthropy on January 31, 2022. In the letter, Colinvaux responds to a recent opinion piece by the Council on Foundation's CEO about the role of donor-advised funds in charitable giving. According to Colinvaux, the problem with these funds is that "unlike a typical donation, they are not available for use by charities. The assets are in limbo — awaiting instructions, but with no requirements to ever be deployed. DAFs represent $160 billion in taxpayer-subsidized funds that remain out of reach for charities and under the thumb of donors." Colinvaux supports recent legislation introduced in Congress to change the rules for DAFs, which he analyzes in a forthcoming paper.