Every year over $400b is given to charitable causes in the U.S. – around 2% of GDP. There are various ways to give, but the most common are direct donations or increasingly through Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) – which now account for over $110b of assets but only $30b of donations.
DAFs are best described as a “waiting room” for charitable donations. People who wish to give money to charity irrevocably deposit money (or securities) into a DAF account, where they can continue to invest it (aggressively or conservatively) while deciding how to donate the money far into the future.
Critics of DAFs point to the large gap between the immediate benefit of the tax-deduction while donors maintain “control” of the assets and the disbursement over an extended period of time. Some proposed legislation is trying to maintain transparency around disbursements.
Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey recently announced the transfer of Facebook and Square stock into DAFs. Dorsey manages his DAF through a google sheet (you can track it here) with transparent donations.
With the tax benefit and the discretion on how the donations get spent those that are opting for DAFs are probably saying it is DAFintely worth it.
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DAFinitely Worth It
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Industry News
Open banking moving from compliance challenge to commercial opportunity - European financial institutions are spending between €50-100m on open banking initiatives, with spend exceeding €100m for 45% of the 290 financial institutions. Read more
PayPal to launch loans program to support Brazilian SMEs - Dan Schulman, PayPal's President, says that the increase in digital payments could allow PayPal to acquire 15-20m new customers during the pandemic. Read more
Stripe expanding presence in Latin America during 2020 - As one of the world’s most rapidly developing geographies, the opportunity for Stripe to truly improve the payments experience for Latin American merchants is enormous. Read more
Goldman delays digital wealth management push - GS has pushed back this year’s planned launch of a digital wealth management platform and is slowing its hiring of advisers. The platform, the latest step in Goldman’s move into mass-market wealth management, would now go live in 2021. Read more
Borrower, beware: credit-card fraud attempts rise during the coronavirus crisis - Fraudsters are increasingly using pilfered credit-card numbers and phishing attacks to prey on overwhelmed consumers and banks during the coronavirus pandemic. The dollar volume of attempted fraudulent transactions rose 35% in April from a year earlier, FIS said. Read more
Bitcoiners go wild after Goldman revives tulip mania comparison - One by one, Goldman laid out rebuttals against many of the merits frequently cited by crypto evangelists that aim to hold up the superiority of the digital tokens. As a result they forged a lot of new enemies -- in the crypto world. Read more
Designing insurance for the next pandemic - The industry is already planning for the next crisis — and the threat of a second wave means it might be only months away! Read more
China's crypto is all about tracing and power - Beijing will come out of the coronavirus crisis with a big first-mover advantage in its official digital currency. It isn’t a coincidence that China’s project picked up speed last year as Facebook announced Libra, suggesting there’s also a power play at work. Read more
Share issues apps: phoned-in financing - When UK regulators suspended preemption rules so struggling businesses could rapidly issue shares retail shareholders complained about dilution to earnings but then showed little appetite in subscribing to these blockbuster financings through apps like PrimaryBid. Read more
Coronavirus accelerates shift away from cash - The FT digs into the effects that are being felt through the banking system. ATM transaction volumes fell as much as 62% year on year at the start of the UK lockdown and merchants are moving cashless - “I have taken no cash since I opened — and I love it,” said a fish and chip shop owner in Lancashire! Read more
Coronavirus spawns a new generation of Japanese stock pickers - Japan’s 5 leading online brokerages claim 0.5m new account openings in March / April. That is roughly 2x the average for this time of year, these new converts to investment have not been idle. Read more
Select Financings
a55 - Brazil and Mexico based alternative SME lender raised $5m in Series A financing led by Santander InnoVentures. Read more
Belvo - Barcelona and Mexico based open banking API platform raised $10m in a Seed round co-led by Founders Fund and Kaszek. Read more
Benepass - California based employee tax and benefits platform raised $2.4m in Seed funding led by Gradient Ventures. Read more
Coalition - San Francisco based cybersecurity insurance startup raised $90m in Series C funding led by Valor Equity Partners at a pre-money valuation of $890m. Read more
Fundbox - San Francisco based B2B credit network raised $20m in a Series C extension led by MUFG Innovation Partners. Read more
GoBear - Singapore consumer comparison site for financial products raised $17m from Walvis Participaties and Aegon N.V. Read more
LeverEdge - Boston based student loans platform for volume discounts raised $2.5m in Seed funding led by NFX. Read more
Marqeta - California based payment card issuer raised $150m led by Capital Group at a $4.3b pre-money valuation. Read more
Meniga - London based digital banking technology provider for banks raised €8.5m led by Groupe BPCE. Read more
Pie Insurance - Washington, D.C. based workers’ comp insurance for SMEs raised $127m in a Series B extension led by Gallatin Point Capital. Read more
Stackin’ - Los Angeles based marketplace for fintech apps raised $12.6m in Series B funding led by Octopus Ventures. Read more
Starling - U.K. based challenger bank raised £40m in a venture round led by JTC and Merian Global Investors. Read more
Treasury Intelligence Solutions - Germany based platform for managing corporate payments and cash flow raised $20m in a Series D extension led by Aquiline Technology Growth. Read more
Vesta - Oregon based e-commerce payments fraud protection raised $125m in venture funding led by Goldfinch Partners. Read more
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