What Is a Donor-Advised Fund and Can It Fund Mental Health Arts Programs?

More than $230 billion sits in donor-advised funds in the United States right now. According to the National Philanthropic Trust, DAFs distributed about 22% of their assets in grants annually in recent years — meaning billions of dollars are actively moving toward mission-aligned nonprofits every year. If you hold a DAF and care about mental health, arts, or the creative community, I want you to know what we're doing at Windsong and how straightforward it is to direct that giving here.

What a donor-advised fund is

• A donor-advised fund (DAF) is a charitable giving account held at a sponsoring organization — Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, Vanguard Charitable, a community foundation, and others. You contribute assets, receive an immediate tax deduction, and then recommend grants to qualifying nonprofits over time.

• Contributions to a DAF are irrevocable charitable gifts. The assets grow tax-free. You recommend grants on your own timeline — there is no required distribution schedule, though many DAF holders distribute annually.

• DAFs can accept a wide range of asset types: cash, publicly traded securities, private stock, real estate, and more. This flexibility makes them one of the most efficient vehicles for charitable giving available to American donors.

Yes — Windsong is DAF-eligible

• Windsong Foundation's legal entity is Windsong Lane, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Our federal EIN is 92-1269990. We are fully eligible to receive grants from donor-advised funds.

• To initiate a DAF grant to Windsong, contact your DAF sponsor and provide our legal name (Windsong Lane) and EIN (92-1269990). Most major DAF sponsors can process a grant recommendation within a few business days.

• For grants of $10,000 or more, I welcome a direct conversation first. Reach me at aaron@windsongfoundation.org. I'm happy to share more about what your gift will specifically fund and how we measure impact.

What your gift funds

A gift to Windsong funds three things directly: the artist residency program, which provides two weeks of immersive creative and wellness support to working artists; our mental health and wellness resources, including access to licensed clinical support for creative professionals; and the infrastructure we're building to serve more artists as we grow.

This work is grounded in the research of Daisy Fancourt at UCL — the same science that shows a 50% reduced risk of depression with regular arts engagement, measurable cognitive protection, and documented biological benefits from creative community. We're not running an arts program. We're running a mental health intervention designed around the population that needs it most and is served by it least.

If you're ready to give, start at windsongfoundation.org/donate. If you want to talk first, email me: aaron@windsongfoundation.org. I built this because I believe the science and I've lived the need. I'd be glad to tell you more.