Ways to support RCAC

Donations

You can make donations through our West Sacramento, California office at 3120 Freeboard Drive, Suite 201, West Sacramento, California.

Donor-Advised Fund (DAF)

What is a donor-advised fund?

A donor-advised fund (DAF) provides donors with a centralized charitable giving vehicle. It allows philanthropically inclined individuals, families, and corporations to make an irrevocable charitable gift to a public charity that sponsors a DAF program and take an immediate tax deduction. Most sponsoring organizations of DAFs accept cash equivalents, securities, and certain other assets.

How does it work?

  • Establish your DAF by making an irrevocable, tax-deductible donation to a public charity that sponsors a DAF
  • Advise the investment allocation of the donated assets (any investment growth is tax-free).
  • Recommend grants to qualified public charities of your choice.

Main advantages of a donor-advised fund

  • Simplicity—The DAF sponsor handles all recordkeeping, disbursements, and tax receipts.
  • Flexibility—Timing of your tax deduction can be separate from your charitable decision making.
  • Tax efficiency—Contributions are tax-deductible, and any investment growth in the DAF is tax-free. It is also easy to donate long-term appreciated securities, eliminating capital gains taxes and allowing you to support several charities from one block of stock.
  • Family legacy—A DAF is a powerful way to build or continue a tradition of family philanthropy.
  • No start-up costs—There is no cost to establish a donor-advised fund. However, there are often minimum initial charitable contributions to establish the DAF (typically $5,000 or more).*
  • No transaction fees—Once approved, 100% of your recommended grant goes to your qualified public charity of choice.*
  • Privacy if desired—Donors may choose to remain anonymous to the grant recipient.

* Sponsoring organizations generally assess an administrative fee on the assets in a DAF. These fees vary by the charity that sponsors a DAF program.

General operating grants

General operating support allows RCAC to provide staff training and development opportunities, recognize employees and volunteers, and develop new partnerships and opportunities. RCAC seeks general operating grants and donations to develop best practices in service delivery, maintain high levels of staff expertise, and explore new creative ways to serve rural communities.

Research and development grants

Research and development grants are contributions that enable our Loan Fund to explore and develop additional loan products; enable housing staff to identify new clients; enable water and waste staff to expand environmental protections; and enable economic development staff to research new ways to increase community sustainability. RCAC welcomes donations and grants for research and development.

Training scholarships

RCAC conducts training events each year that range from one-day workshops to multi-day regional and national conferences. Community development practitioners, eager to learn but with limited resources, are often unable to attend without full or partial scholarships. RCAC accepts and administers scholarship funds for these training events. Donations and grants of any size are welcomed for this purpose.

RCAC Loan Fund

RCAC created a low-interest Loan Fund in 1988 through support from foundations, religious organizations, banking institutions and government entities. The U.S. Treasury certified RCAC as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) in 1996.

The loan fund has affordable housing, community facility, small business lending and environmental infrastructure lending programs. Due to the ever increasing demand for funds from rural communities, the loan fund continually seeks additional capital. Although RCAC prefers that investments and grants for the Loan Fund do not have geographic restrictions, we recognize that some funding sources need to impose limits. The Loan Fund seeks capital for:

Capital Grant (Equity)

A capital grant is a contribution of funds to be used as permanent lending capital. Permanent capital becomes a part of the pool of capital from which RCAC makes loans to nonprofit organizations, tribes and units of local government. Our goal is to maintain 20 percent equity or permanent capital in the Loan Fund pool. Capital grants of any size will be accepted.

Capital Investments (Debt)

An investment in the RCAC Loan Fund also increases lending capital, but the investment is repaid to the investor. RCAC accepts investments from corporations, foundations and religious institutions. The minimum investment is $50,000 and investment terms are negotiable. The interest rate on investments is generally fixed for the term of the investment. Longer-term investments made at low interest rates give the Loan Fund more flexibility in the terms it can offer, making the loans less costly to nonprofit and local government borrowers.