Frequently Asked Questions
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Please take a look through our Q & As below. We've categorized them to help you find your answer quickly. Use the tab bar below to narrow your search. If you still can't find the information you need, please don't hesitate to contact us. Thanks!
1. What is Dechomai?
Decomai Foundation and Dechomai Asset Trust are Nevada-based national donor advised funds (DAFs). Dechomai was created in 2003 with the sole purpose of dramatically increasing charitable donations of noncash assets. This allows donors to be even more generous to the charities and issues they care about by helping make gifts happen that otherwise wouldn’t.
2. How is it operated?
Dechomai is governed by an independent Board of Directors with all day-to-day administrative/operational functions provided by Charitable Solutions, LLC – a Jacksonville, Florida-based firm with 25+ professionals.
3. How does Dechomai Foundation make it easier for other charities to accept non-cash assets?
Dechomai Foundation allows other charities to outsource the expertise needed and the potential risks inherent in accepting many non-cash assets. After due diligence, the Foundation may accept the non-cash asset as a donation, manage the holding/sales process through liquidation and then, finally, grant the net sales proceeds to the charity(ies) the donor recommends (subject to our Donor Advised Fund Policies and Board Approval).
4. How does Dechomai work with referring charities?
Nearly every prospective donation received by Dechomai was initially declined by the referring charity. Dechomai does not market to donors or advisors directly… only to other charities that have a great donor with a great asset wanting to do great things, but for whatever reason, they cannot accept the gift directly. This may be because of potential complexity, risk, capacity, policy or simply a very quick turnaround is required.
Dechomai does NOT serve as an agent of the charity or donor, we are an independent public charity and will not provide any tax, legal or financial advice. As such, charities and donors are encouraged to perform due diligence on Dechomai and engage independent professional counsel to determine the benefits and risks of a donation.
Note: Watch webinar, located on the Charitable Solutions, LLC website under Resources/Webinars, October 2022, entitled “Never Decline a Gift Again: How Charities Work with Charitable Solutions, LLC” . This describes Dechomai, National Gift Annuity and Charitable Solutions, LLC products/services/vehicles.
5. Who sends out the written confirmation for a donation?
All official communication pertaining to the specific non-cash donation will come from Dechomai Foundation, Inc., not the referring charity.
6. What types of assets are accepted as donations to Dechomai?
We are comfortable looking at any higher value assets (usually greater than $250,000 with some exceptions). These assets can be domestic or international interests, and include:
Business Interests
- Privately-held C-corp, S-corp, LLC or LP interests
- Restricted public/private stock or concentrated stock positions
- Hedge funds, carried interests or private equity funds
Real Estate
- Commercial, residential, net leased property, limited partnerships and limited liability companies, mortgages, operating partnership units
Personal Property
- Cars, planes, and boats are generally not accepted (unless over $250,000)
- Art, collectibles, and antiques may be accepted on a case-by-case basis
Any other long term capital gain asset that a donor may own is also possible: oil/gas interests, cryptocurrency, patents and any other miscellaneous asset.
7. What is the Minimum size donation accepted?
Dechomai does not have a minimum size donation (individual donations have averaged between $3-7 million each year), however, there is a minimum fee of $10,000 which represents a donation to complete the gift.
- For Charitable Gift Annuities, the minimum size is $20,000.
- For Charitable Remainder Trusts, the minimum size is $500,000.Restricted stock (Section 144 and 145), closely-held stock (also known as "privately held"), S-corporation stock
8. What are the fees and expenses involved in accepting and administering a donation?
Dechomai Foundation will charge between 1 and 3 percent for each donation (average fee is usually 1.2-1.4%), based on the size and complexity of the asset. An initial audit is performed at no charge to determine the complexity, estimated time, and estimated fee involved in accepting and administering the non-cash donation (up to three hours). Note that at least 50% off all collected fees are used for operating reserves or unrestricted fund purposes.
9. Who should be involved in the donation process?
A donor should involve everyone he or she typically consults on tax and estate planning issues. Dechomai Foundation, its administrative service providers, and its other affiliates DO NOT provide tax or legal advice.
10. What is the process for selling a non-cash donation?
Most often, we consult with the donor, related parties and professional brokers to determine the best path to liquidity to maximize the proceeds - each asset has a different liquidity/exit path.
11. How long does it take to accept, administer and then grant out the typical donation?
As one might suspect, there really is no "typical" non-cash donation. From gift acceptance to granting the net proceeds can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a few years, depending on the complexity and marketability of each non-cash donation. Our experiences has been that 1/3 of donations sell within 6 months, 1/3 sell between 6-24 months and 1/3 take longer than 24 months to sell.
12. How do Dechomai charitable remainder trust work?
After the donor contacts Dechomai, he/she will receive a sample gift illustration, disclosure letter, and fee schedule. The donor's attorney must create the trust, naming Dechomai as trustee. The donor then transfers the assets to the trust. Dechomai is responsible for the trust's investment management and administration for the entire term.
When the trust terminates, the remainder will be transferred to a donor-advised fund. The donor must leave instructions for the ultimate grant so that Dechomai can approve 100 percent distribution of the proceeds as a donor-advised distribution.
13. How are the funds invested for charitable gift annuities?
Dechomai uses exchange-traded and index funds to keep fees as low as possible and rebalances the portfolio once each year.
14. What are the minimums for gift annuities?
Dechomai has a minimum gift annuity of $20,000.
15. What assets can be used to fund gift annuities?
Typically, cash or marketable securities are funding assets. However, we may also consider various forms of non-cash assets on a case-by-case basis.
16. How does a Dechomai charitable gift annuity work?
Dechomai can offer a full turn-key solution for Charitable Remainder Trust to include design, establishing the trust, investment management, compliance and tax reporting. For any cash, stock or non-cash donation greater than $500,000, we serve as the initial or on-going trustee. In some cases, the donor may recommend his/her investment manager. Upon the trust’s termination, 100% of the remainder may be granted to the recommended charity(ies) as donor advised distributions.
17. How are Charitable Gift Annuities and charitable remainder trust funds invested?
Dechomai uses exchange-traded and index funds to keep fees as low as possible and rebalances the portfolio to the target allocation quarterly.
18. Where can we find out more about Charitable Gift Annuities?
Please check out our fact sheet, funding assets, fees and process at nationalgiftannuity.org--we have more than 1,000 gift annuities in all 50 states.