Monday, August 06, 2018

The Times had a critical piece yesterday on donor-advised funds ...

... which are commonly used in the art world.  The story is here.

Harvard's Greg Mankiw (convincingly) finds it "unconvincing":

"The headline and tone of the article suggest something nefarious is going on. But unless you think that future charitable spending is less admirable than current charitable spending, nothing of the sort is the case. ... [T]he donor of the funds cannot get the money back to finance his consumption or that of his heirs. The money has to eventually go to IRS-approved charities. Putting money into a DAF is essentially a commitment to give that part of your wealth, plus all future returns on it, to charity. As such, DAFs should be applauded."