What is the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program?
A. The Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program is a nonprofit organization recognized by the IRS as a tax-exempt public charity under sections 501(c)(3), 509(a)(1), and 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Program’s mission is to increase philanthropy in the United States, and it accomplishes this by operating a donor-advised fund. A donor-advised fund is a charitable-giving vehicle that offers immediate tax deductions to donors, yet allows several years for planning and potential account growth before any portion of the account assets must be distributed to charities. Distributions from a donor-advised fund are based on recommendations by the donors or other authorized parties, subject to the Program’s approval. The Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program was founded by Vanguard in 1997 as an independent, nonprofit organization. A majority of the Program’s Trustees are independent of Vanguard. Although Vanguard provides certain investment management and administrative servic
