The Pandemic and a 'Rainy Day Fund' for American Charity

“Among the more heartening parts of the American response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been the emergence of and financial support for effective charitable work. One of the best examples has been New York’s Invisible Hands, a group started by three twentysomethings that has mobilized thousands of volunteers to deliver groceries to the poor and homebound. It quickly found financial support from a charitable foundation, New York’s Robin Hood, and gained access to tax-exempt status to solicit individual contributions. (The group owes more to Adam Smith’s “Theory of Moral Sentiments” than to “The Wealth of Nations.”) The lessons from such a story, and others across the country, include the fact that necessary charitable funds were available in the first place. Foundations and private charitable accounts such as donor-advised funds (DAFs) serve as storehouses of charitable wealth — available to respond to crises.” Continue reading.

Source: The Hill
7-minute read.