Event tickets, and a menu of charitable funds
Event tickets: Beware of the split
Here’s how this might go.
Client: “We wanted to buy a table at the upcoming gala through our donor-advised fund, but the staff at GiveWell Community Foundation said that’s not possible and they suggested alternate ways of meeting our goals. What’s up with that?”
You: “Hmmmm ….”
And no one could blame you for that response! The rules behind this are obscure and confusing, even by IRS standards.
Here’s the challenge: The IRS frowns on donor-advised funds paying for any part of an event ticket to a charitable fundraiser–even if a portion of the ticket is tax-deductible.
Big picture, the IRS is likely striving for administrative simplicity to enforce the longstanding tax principle that a taxpayer cannot deduct value given to a nonprofit that is effectively transferred back to the taxpayer. At a typical event, of course, your client receives food, drinks, entertainment, and even t-shirts and other fun swag. The IRS knows this!
The IRS’s commentary on this topic is not new; IRS Notice 2017-73 addresses a concept known as “bifurcated gifts,” meaning a portion of a gift is tax deductible and the other is not. The background here is that the IRS has taken the position that Internal Revenue Code Section 4967 prohibits donor-advised grants from conferring “more than incidental” benefits to donor-advised fund holders. In its 2017 Notice, the IRS expresses its opinion that donor-advised fund grants that enable attendance or participation in a charity-sponsored event (such as buying tickets or a table) do indeed provide more than just an incidental benefit, even if the taxpayer pays out-of-pocket for the non-deductible portion of the ticket.
Ever since the notice was released, it’s been on the radar of tax professionals, and many predict that the IRS will eventually formalize its opinion by issuing new regulations. It’s wise to keep an eye on this because the penalties certainly are not negligible and include excise taxes imposed on the donor advisor and potential penalties for donor-advised fund programs that knowingly authorize such payments.
There is good news, though!
GiveWell Community Foundation is on it! Our professional staff understands the rules inside and out, and we are here to help your clients stay compliant and achieve their charitable goals. In situations like this, we help your clients structure gifts from their donor-advised funds to support general event sponsorships if the client declines all benefits, or even recommend that the client pay the ticket portion from their personal funds and use donor-advised funds to give separate and additional amounts for general support unrelated to the event specifically.
Please reach out anytime. We’re happy to help!

The whole menu: Serving clients’ charitable giving needs
If you’ve been working with GiveWell Community Foundation for some time, you know that the ways our professional staff can help your clients are not simply limited to meeting whatever need the client was facing when you first introduced them to the Community Foundation.
It’s common for a client to get started with the Community Foundation to fulfill an imminent tax planning goal, help meet a specific and urgent community need, or simply satisfy a strong desire to become more intentional and organized with charitable giving. Along these lines, perhaps your client established a donor-advised fund, contributed stock to a nonprofit’s endowment fund at the Community Foundation, or worked with our professional staff to establish a community legacy.
Whatever brought your client to us, our professional staff wants you to know that it doesn’t stop there! As a hub for charitable giving, we strive to make every part of a client’s philanthropic life easier and more rewarding. Consider a few examples of how a client can enjoy the full menu:
- A donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation is often the cornerstone of a client’s overall charitable giving portfolio. It offers the convenience of a one-stop-shop: A client makes a tax-deductible contribution of cash (or, ideally, appreciated stock) to the fund, and then recommends grants to favorite nonprofit organizations. Encourage clients to leverage donor-advised funds to execute the full range of charitable giving each year. They’ll find it so much easier to keep track overtime of where they are giving, and how much.
- We can help your client establish a designated or field-of-interest fund to complement a donor-advised fund. A designated fund allows a client to support a specific nonprofit over the long term, while a field-of-interest fund focuses support on a particular area of community need by leveraging the Community Foundation’s expertise. If a client is over the age of 70½ and owns one or more IRAs, a designated fund or field-of-interest fund can receive Qualified Charitable Distributions up to $105,000 per year per spouse, bypassing taxable income.
- We can work with you and your client to establish a bequest in a client’s estate plan to support favorite causes beyond a client’s lifetime. Many fundholders at the Community Foundation name their donor-advised funds, field-of-interest funds, designated funds, or even the Community Foundation itself, as beneficiaries in their wills and trusts, and especially as beneficiaries of IRAs and other qualified plans because doing so delivers significant tax benefits. What’s more, the Community Foundation offers opportunities for legacy donors to get together and learn from each other. If your client has left a bequest and is not yet involved as a legacy donor, please encourage the client to reach out!
- We can help clients and their families learn more about favorite nonprofit organizations and the issues they are addressing so that clients can become more informed and effective philanthropists in our community. The Community Foundation’s professional staff has unparalleled, deep knowledge of local issues and organizations, which is a real advantage for clients. When clients better understand the needs of the community and how nonprofits are addressing those needs, clients will be better equipped to structure giving so that it makes a difference in measurable ways that matter to them. Clients will enjoy their charitable giving a lot more, too.
We hope you’ll look to GiveWell Community Foundation as the central resource for clients’ philanthropy. Our professional staff is here to help your clients make the most of their charitable giving strategies so that clients are not only putting money to work to improve the quality of life in our community, but they’re also achieving financial and philanthropic goals.

Ready to get started?
You know your clients. We know philanthropy. Together we can ensure your clients make the best decisions for making a difference in the community.

Lori Martini
Vice President/CPO
863-683-3131
lmartini@givecf.org