Legacy | November 2025

The Many Benefits of Having a Donor Advised Fund

Foundation Trustee Sara Otto says, “It’s a gift to be philanthropic and you don’t have to have millions to be a philanthropist. We include our children in our gift giving by giving them the opportunity to choose where their share of the funds will go every year. The kids identify with a subject and then they can donate to the appropriate nonprofit and feel a sense of ownership in the community. Having the donor advised fund, makes it very easy and fun to organize our contributions.”

How a donor advised fund works

  1. You make an initial, irrevocable gift of cash or stock to fund a DAF at a sponsoring organization such as the Santa Fe Community Foundation, Fidelity, Schwab, National Philanthropic Trust, etc.
  2. Obtain a charitable income tax deduction in the year of your gift.
  3. The assets in your DAF grow tax-free.
  4. You make annual recommendations for gifts to be made from your DAF.

Gifts from your donor advised fund

Your donor advised fund is a flexible vehicle for annual charitable giving. You can make one larger gift to a DAF and then recommend grants to  Museum of New Mexico Foundation, our four state museums in Santa Fe, eight historic sites statewide and the Office of Archaeological Studies and other nonprofits. You can use the "Make a Gift From My DAF" tool to contact your DAF provider and make a grant. We will acknowledge your generous gift as a DAF distribution or however you’d like.

Sara Otto says, “We support the New Mexico Museum Foundation through our donor advised fund and we recommend that our friends join the foundation.  This way they can support these valuable New Mexico institutions, make a difference in their community, and make friends with people who care about art, education, and sustaining our very special Southwestern culture”

Already have a DAF?

You can put it to work preserving the stories, traditions and artistry that define New Mexico’s rich cultural heritage and the world’s folk arts. Thank you for considering this powerful way to give back.

Contact Laura Sullivan at [email protected] or 505.216.0829, or visit our website to learn more about DAFs.

Photo credit: "Gustave Baumann, The Artist's Environment" exhibition. Photo by Cousineau Studios.