This guide contains answers to the most frequently asked questions about a Personal Giving Fund.
1. What is a JGive Donor Advised Fund?
It’s an innovative digital tool that allows you to do your giving, smarter. It’s like having your own private charitable foundation, without the bureaucracy and for a fraction of the cost. Make a deposit in your personal giving fund, from Israel or abroad. Receive an immediate tax credit upon deposit, for the full amount and grant later. This efficient charitable vehicle, coupled with JGive’s powerful digital platform, enables you to plan, manage and track your contributions and donations.
2. Why open a JGive Donor Advised Fund?
Good question! People often want to donate to the causes close to their hearts, but don’t know how to get started, how to manage their charitable giving for tax purposes, or how to think about a philanthropic budget. Now, like in so many other areas of life, digital automation is the solution to help us do more good, more often.
3. How does it work?
- Deposit - Select an amount you want to give and deposit it to your account. These monies enter your fund and you receive an immediate tax-receipt for the full amount. This money can sit in your account until you're ready to…
- Grant - Make a grant how you want, when you want; the choice is yours. Make one grant and leave the rest for next time, or make a few grants all at once. You can even set up a recurring monthly donation to the charity of your choice.
- Speed and efficiency - Support your favorite charities in seconds- anytime, anywhere- all with a click. At the end of the year, you'll have one receipt for all your charitable contributions, making tax-time easier than ever.
4. How do I deposit? How do I grant?
It’s so easy to get started. To make a deposit into your account, just log into your personal area and click on the deposit button. Once the money is in your fund, you can go back to the personal area and click on “Make a Grant” to start giving to the charity of your choice.
5. How do I get my tax receipt?
With our user-friendly, state-of-the art digital platform managing your record-keeping and reporting, we remove the time commitment and costs associated with tracking your charitable endeavors. JGive’s unique collaboration with the Israeli Tax Authority (ITA) enables you to file and manage your charitable receipts in one place online, without digging through your inbox or files for those ever-elusive paper receipts. So once you make your deposit, you will automatically receive one tax-receipt on the full amount and later, you can grant to whatever charities you want.
6. What organizations can I donate to through my personal JGive DAF?
Our donors can grant to ALL Israeli tax-exempt nonprofits (charities that have a Certificate of Proper Management and Article 46 status), even if they are not registered on our platform.
If you search and don’t find the name of the charity of your choice amongst the 1,400 associated with our platform, you will see a popup with a link through which you can donate to that charity. After clicking on the link, you will need to enter the name of the charity and the organization number in the "Comments" field, so that we can transfer the donation to its correct destination. If you do not know the official name of the nonprofit or its number, you can easily search for the information on the website "Guidestar" (the website of Israel's charity) by clicking on the link in the pop-up at the top of the link.
7. Will the nonprofits I donate to contact me following my donation?
You can choose which details, if any, are shared when you donate. There is no reason an organization should contact you without you choosing that option in advance.
8. Can I view my deposit and grant history?
Sure. Just take a look at your dashboard. There, you can see all recent transactions and grants you have made, in chronological order.
9. Is there a minimum to open a JGive Donor Advised Fund?
No! Anyone can open an account and start giving today! For accounts above 50,000 ILS, speak to us about joining JGive Platinum and enjoy a host of additional features and benefits for your DAF.
10. What are the fees associated with opening an account?
The annual fees are just 2% of the account balance. Our innovative advanced digital product is subsidized by supportive philanthropists who believe in growing the world of giving in Israel. So for you, that means lower costs. For JGive Platinum, there is a graduated managing fee table. Please ask for further details.
11. Can I donate anonymously?
Sure. Donate in your name or in someone else’s, or completely anonymously. You choose which details to provide.
12. I pay taxes in the USA and UK. How does this tool help me?
We have partnerships with nonprofit organizations in the countries listed above so donors can contribute to Israeli nonprofits in foreign currency and receive a tax deductible receipt in the currency the deposit was made.
For example, if you want to deposit USD into your account through JGive- Friends of Asor, USA Inc., a recognized tax-exempt public charity as described in Section 501(c)(3), you then receive an American tax receipt.
13. I already have a DAF abroad. Why should I open another one?
JGive is a marketplace for all giving to and in Israel, so if you have funds abroad or you even already have a DAF, this is the natural way to expand and simplify your Israeli charitable activity. Opening a JGive Personal Giving Fund enables you to donate to Israeli nonprofits quickly and efficiently without dealing with the bureaucracy involved in international transfers. In this way, you can donate to all the Israeli causes closest to your heart, in a simple, efficient and quicker manner- with significant cost savings.
14. How can I transfer funds from an overseas fund to my account?
You can transfer funds from an overseas account to JGive’s account via bank transfer or a check. The funds arrive in Israel within a few days and are converted to NIS. We then credit your Personal Giving Fund according to the currency conversion of the day of transfer.
15. How long does my JGive fund stay open?
At the end of the calendar year, if an account has a balance of up to 5,000 NIS, the entire sum must be donated in the following year (but additional funds can be donated to keep the fund open). If the account’s balance ranges between 5,000 and 50,000 NIS, then 35% must be donated in the following year. Not sure you’ll remember? Don't worry. We will remind you towards the end of the year about the requirements for donations from your fund.
16. Is it possible to receive a tax refund during the year and not only at the end of the calendar year?
If you are an employee, the tax credit can be directly linked to your pay slip. To hear more about this, speak to us about JGive@Work. If you are self-employed or own a company, you can only redeem the tax receipts for a refund at the end of the calendar year.
17. I saw that JGive can submit a request for a tax refund for me, how does that work?
JGive offers a unique service that allows you to download a concentrated receipt for submission to the Israeli Tax Authority for your annual tax filing. We even offer online submission of this receipt. Though we do not submit tax refund requests for our clients, we do assist in making the process easier and enable submission of the request for a tax refund on an online form.
18. How can I get my family involved in my philanthropic giving and planning?
A DAF is a great tool for intergenerational giving. Bring your kids in and help them get involved in the question of which charities to support. Coming up on a significant life-cycle event? Set up a fund for your newlywed children so that they can develop their own philanthropic muscles and develop a strategy. Speak to your accountants and tax advisors and build a charitable structure that works best for you and your family.
19. JGive works with both donors and nonprofits; are there any conflicts that arise as a result?
We indeed provide services to both donors and nonprofit organizations alike. However, we have different departments that manage the operations and as well as separate bank accounts for these purposes- all of which operate according to the strictest standards with the goal of ensuring that there are no conflicts of interest or legal / ethical conflicts.
20. How can I know that my money and my information are properly secured?
Though we are a nonprofit, we have established ourselves as a fin-tech organization. This means that we have a broad and experienced in-house development team that is responsible for the highest levels of security on the platform. You can read more about it here. We also have a board of directors, an executive and investment committee and a legal counsel team who oversee the Platinum operations.
21. Will the name of the charity I donate to show up on the receipt?
The name of the charity you grant to will not appear on your tax receipt. This is due to the fact that the receipt is generated upon depositing funds into your DAF and not when you make a grant to the specific organization. Therefore, the receipt generated at time of deposit will be in the name of JGive- Keren Asor.
22. Can I donate stocks?
Do you have alternative assets that you’d like to donate, such as stocks, real estate or other valuable items? Our Jgive Platinum donors can now maximize their impact by donating these items as charitable gifts while still enjoying the philanthropic tax benefits. Please get in touch with us at platinum@jgive.com to further explore your options!