The Charityvest Guide
  • Welcome to Charityvest 👋
  • About Donor-Advised Funds
  • For Donors
    • Getting Started
      • Open an Account
      • Make a Contribution
      • Activate Investing
        • Impact investing
      • Grant to Charity
        • Tips for finding a specific charity
        • Philanthropic advisory
        • International Grantmaking
      • Check Grant Status
      • Schedule Future Giving
      • Send a Gift Card
      • Add Beneficiaries
      • Set a Giving Goal
    • Gifts We Accept
      • Cash
      • Stocks & ETFs
      • Crypto
      • DAF Transfers
      • Complex Assets
      • Other Ways to Donate
    • Our Portfolios
    • Our Fees
    • Philanthropic services
    • Invite Friends, Invest Free
    • Tax Matters
    • For Financial Advisors
  • COMMUNITY FUNDS
    • About Community Funds
    • Fund Managers
    • Community Fund Setup
      • Community Fund Policies
      • Community Fund Settings
      • Community Fund Design
        • Grantmaking Process: Examples + Inspiration
    • Donate to a Community Fund
    • Grant from a Community Fund
    • Community Fund Fees
    • Community Fund FAQs
  • For Charities
    • Receiving Grants
    • Stock & Crypto Donations
    • Charity FAQs
  • For Workplaces
    • Corporate Giving Fund
    • Employee Giving Programs
      • Employee Matching
      • Employee Equity
      • Setting Up an Employee Program
    • Administrator FAQ
    • Employee FAQ
  • About Our Venture
    • Our Giving Model & Philosophy
    • Our Story + Mission + Values
    • The Foundation Source Relationship
    • How We Make Money
    • Building the Future of Giving
    • Our Trust & Security Posture
  • Governance & Legal
    • About Charityvest, Inc.
    • Financial Reporting
    • Legal Documents
    • Required Disclosures
    • Legal Note
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On this page
  • Setting up investing
  • Investing FAQs
  • Are there any additional or hidden fees?
  • How frequently are portfolios rebalanced?
  • Can I change my allocation or deactivate investing?
  • How do I use the money to support charities?
  • Can I invest only a portion of my balance?
  • What happens if the investments lose value?

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  1. For Donors
  2. Getting Started

Activate Investing

Invest your giving fund balance to grow your giving potential, tax-free.

PreviousMake a ContributionNextImpact investing

Last updated 5 months ago

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Setting up investing

When setting up your Charityvest fund, you can choose to invest your fund balance in a diversified, low-cost portfolio. Your funds will always be available to grant but may grow tax-free and expand your giving potential.

After selecting Set up investing, you'll be asked to choose between the Standard Portfolio and the Filtered Portfolio. Both portfolios offer exposure across the same asset classes. The Standard Portfolio tracks the underlying asset class indices directly, while the Filtered Portfolio attemps to achieve the same, while filtering against companies that participate in controversial industries, such as alcohol, gambling, and adult entertainment.

Next, you'll be asked about your portfolio duration. Specifically, we want to understand how long your charitable balance will remain invested. The longer it will remain invested, the more risk you are likely to be able to take without affecting your giving plans. We'll use this information to recommend a portfolio allocation based on your giving plans, which you'll select on the following screen.

If you decide to customize your portfolio, you'll be able to adjust the allocations of the individual ETFs that make up our portfolios, to a total of 100%. This step is entirely optional.

On the final page, you'll be asked to review your settings and start investing. Investing will then be active on your account and your balance will be invested during the next available trading window.

Investing FAQs

Are there any additional or hidden fees?

No. There are no hidden fees - just one simple fee assessed to your Charityvest balance every month. All trading is conducted commission-free and the portfolio ETFs offer some of the lowest expense ratios of any ETFs in the market.

How frequently are portfolios rebalanced?

Portfolios are rebalanced every time we conduct activity in your account - for instance, investing new contributions or selling positions to make a grant. If no activity occurred in the last 30 days, we'll rebalance once to keep your portfolio in line with your target allocation.

Can I change my allocation or deactivate investing?

Yes. You can change your portfolio, modify your allocation, or stop investing at any time. Your balance will convert back to cash and your account will no longer be assessed the monthly investing charge.

How do I use the money to support charities?

You don’t have to do anything special to use your balance to support charities you care about. Simply recommend a grant and we’ll automatically liquidate the correct amount of money from your invested balance to fund your gift.

Can I invest only a portion of my balance?

No. Using our invest feature will invest your full charitable balance. However, you can more heavily weight your portfolio’s exposure to ultra-short duration fixed income to more closely approximate holding a portion of your fund in cash.

What happens if the investments lose value?

Because your contributions are tax-deductible, gains and losses in your Charityvest balance do not affect tax deduction values. However, if the investments lose value, you will not be able to grant as much to charity as if you had not invested your balance.

Investing setup screen.
Portfolio choices: Standard and Filtered
Selecting a risk level. The recommended allocation is pre-selected.
A 95% VTI, 5% VUSB custom allocation.
Success - you've activated investing on your Charityvest fund.