An initial contribution of at least $5,000 is required to establish your fund. Once your fund is established, you can make contributions at any time in any amount.

Here are the different ways you can give:

• Cash: U.S. dollars, check, credit card, or wire transfer.
• Publicly Traded Securities: stocks, bonds and mutual funds that we liquidate in a timely manner so the proceeds can be placed in your fund.
• Other Assets: gifts of real estate, closely-held business interests, and other non-liquid assets will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Typically, your gifts allow you to take a current tax deduction and to recommend grants to other charities over time. Consult your own professional advisor regarding the effects of your donations to ProvisionBridge.

After we accept a contribution, it is irrevocable and no restrictions or conditions can be placed on the gift.

As established by the IRS, a donor-advised fund is a special type of giving arrangement between a sponsoring charity and a donor. The charity owns and controls the fund while donors maintain advisory privileges on how the funds they contribute are distributed and invested.

Anyone else can contribute to your fund but only you and your designated advisors have advisory privileges. We will issue a charitable contribution receipt for all gifts and every contributor is entitled to receive all the tax benefits allowed by law.

You and your designated fund advisors may recommend grants from your fund to charitable organizations by sending us a signed Grant Recommendation Form.

You have the privilege of recommending grants to most any registered charitable organization. Grants are subject to the review of each organization’s tax-exempt status and approval by our Grant Review Committee.

Each grant recommendation must be for at least $500.

We hope you will actively use your fund but there is no minimum number or amount set for annual grant recommendations. Ultimately, it is our goal to see fund assets distributed to charitable recipients.

You can recommend grants at any time although contributions must stay in your fund for at least one month prior to distribution.

You may make up to 10 grants a year at no charge. Additional recommendations are assessed an Administrative Grant of $20 that will go into the ProvisionBridge Fund to help cover grant administration costs.

Our research staff must first carry out a due diligence review process for the recommended organization. Following approval, a grant check and transmittal letter is typically sent to the grantee within a week. If the organization you recommend has not been previously vetted, the process is likely to take a bit longer. Grants are considered in the order in which they are received.

If you don’t make any approved grant recommendations for two years, we will make a grant of 10 percent of your fund value to the ProvisionBridge Operating Fund. This will occur at the end of the second year and each year of inactivity that follows. At the end of five years of inactivity, the entire remaining value of your fund will be granted to the ProvisionBridge Operating Fund.

By law, we cannot grant directly to individuals, private foundations, or Type III supporting organizations. We are also prohibited from making grants that personally benefit a donor or related party in any way. This includes requests to tuition, goods at a charitable auction, or to pay for dinners, events, and memberships that have a non-deductible portion. In addition, grants cannot be made for lobbying purposes or to support political campaigns. Upon discovery of any such prohibited grants, we have the right to take remedial action and may require that the grant be returned or replaced by the donor.

To carry on your legacy of giving, you may wish to designate one or more successors for your fund. You have the option of splitting the value of your fund into separate gift funds for each successor advisor. Or you can name a set of recommended distributions to fully deplete your fund that will take place when you are no longer able to make recommendations. You can indicate your desires for succession on the Fund Application and you can modify your plan at any time by just giving us notice. In the event that your succession plan is not complete, or your successors are unable or unwilling to fulfill their role, or if your charitable beneficiaries are no longer qualified recipient organizations, then your fund will be granted to the ProvisionBridge Operating Fund upon your death or permanent incapacity.