Can I recommend a grant from my Giving Account for a charitable gala or fundraising event?

You may recommend a grant for general support/recognition for the event; however, grants intended to pay any portion of the cost of attendance to a charitable event(s) cannot be made from your Giving Account. This includes bifurcated or “split” gifts* where a donor pays for the non-tax-deductible portion of the admission fee out of pocket, and then recommends the tax-deductible portion from their Giving Account. The full admission fee the charity requires you to pay in connection to your attendance at the event, including the tax deductible and non-tax-deductible portions, must be paid out of pocket and separate from any Fidelity Charitable grants. If you have paid the full admission fee to attend and intend to recommend a grant above and beyond that amount for which you will be receiving no goods or service, please indicate this to Fidelity Charitable when recommending your grant by selecting the "Create your own" option in the "Use" field and adding "the full minimum cost to attend has already been paid for outside of the DAF," in addition to any other specifics you would like to include. If you are not attending the event at all, please indicate this by selecting "charity event - not attending" in the "Use" field.

*For more information regarding bifurcated payments for tickets or event attendance from donor-advised funds, see IRS Notice 2017-73.

Here's an example:
Rebecca would like to attend the Annual Gala at her favorite charity. The charity offers individual tickets priced at $500 ($250 tax-deductible) or a Patron Sponsorship for $10,000 that comes with 10 tickets for seats at a premium table ($7,500 tax-deductible). Rebecca would like to use all 10 seats so her friends and family can attend the gala with her. For Rebecca to be within Fidelity Charitable policy, she would have to pay the full minimum ticket price of $500 for each attendee, totaling $5,000.

She may recommend a grant for the remaining $5,000 from her Fidelity Charitable Giving Account as long as this amount is considered fully tax-deductible with no goods or services being provided in connection to the grant. When recommending the grant, Rebecca can make Fidelity Charitable aware of this by selecting the "Create your own" option in the "Use" field and adding "the full minimum cost to attend has already been paid for outside of the DAF," in addition to the other event details she included.