when the weather's right you got women, you got women on your mind. Have a drink, have a drive, go out and see what you can find.” If you recognize the opening lyrics to the song made famous by musician Mungo Jerry, you qualify as a 60s music aficionado. Quite a catchy tune and peppy kickoff to the coming of summer, which officially begins on June 21st. Two days before that, of course, is Father’s Day.
In case you didn’t know, the name June is of Latin origin and means "young." It is derived from the name of the Roman goddess Juno. Other popular uses of the word June includes: June Gloom; a California term for a weather pattern that results in cloudy, overcast skies with cool temperatures during the late spring and early summer. June Swoon; a baseball phrase, something that every team has to hear when they go on a losing streak in June. June Bug; refers to any of the 100 species of beetles that are related to the scarabs familiar from ancient Egyptian iconography. And my favorite is June Cleaver; a principal character in the popular American television sitcom of the 1950s, Leave It to Beaver.
Moving forward to matters of more importance, the “Foundation” Board of Trustees recently met and decided to resume the organization’s competitive application and grant-making processes of the past. More than once, I informed our readers that due to the 2020 pandemic that stressed the financial fitness of local non-profit agencies over the past two years, we relaxed the usual annual process for those we historically support and simply rolled over the same amount of funding given them in 2019. Additionally, these funds could be used by the agencies in whichever ways they needed to keep the doors open, instead of being tied to specific programs or projects. From what I’ve been told, this was extremely helpful. Now that these agencies have begun to recover financially, those seeking funding for 2023 will be invited to apply later this year. Announcements will be forthcoming in July.
Some folks have asked me how the “Foundation” determines the amount of money allotted for grants. The answer is that each year we visit the value of our investment portfolio on October 1st, as well as the amount on that date the prior two years, then we calculate the three-year rolling average. The board then determines what percentage of that three-year rolling average (usually around 3%) will be used to fund grants for the coming year. Using this method enables us to maintain a somewhat stable funding rate, regardless of any spikes that may occur in the stock market in any given year.
Giving Now and Later: An Overview of Donor Advised Fund Rules
Donor advised funds have been around for almost a century. The first donor advised fund (DAF) emerged in the early 1930s. DAFs became more popular and commercialized in the 1990's with the creation of charitable arms of large financial institutions. Tax law evolved over the years to distinguish public charities from private foundations, without codifying DAFs until 2006. Congress passed the Pension Protection Act (PPA) of 2006, which introduced DAFs formally into the tax code and defined the rules related to DAFs. Since the passage of the PPA, the rules regarding DAFs have remained relatively unchanged.
A DAF is a separately identified account that a donor establishes with a sponsoring 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. This DAF allows the donor to irrevocably dedicate assets for charitable purposes and generate an immediate charitable income tax deduction, while retaining flexibility to later recommend which charitable entities should receive grants from the DAF. Many donors gravitate to DAFs due to the flexibility and advisory control they offer. If you are interested in establishing a DAF of your own to benefit the communities of Avila Beach, please contact Rick Cohen at: [email protected].
Last but not least, this alert comes from Cal Fire Battalion Chief Paul Lee. “As the weather warms, please get in front of all weed abatement projects and complete them before the grass is cured. Any burning should be done using caution. Feel free to reach out to the fire department before burning if you have any questions.” I think we all appreciate the hard work of Chief Lee and his colleagues at the Avila Beach fire station to help keep our community, with its concentrations of vegetation, safe.
That’s it for now, fellow Avilones. See you at the beach!