AV Foundation
Philanthropy as communion: donor-advised funds built to give together, not just give efficiently.
Our role: Co-founder and ongoing steward of its vision and growth
Type: 501(c)(3) public charity and boutique DAF sponsor (EIN: 99-3901755)
Focus: Donor-advised funds and collective giving all oriented toward human flourishing
The AV Foundation is a donor's partner for impact, a public charity that helps people realize their philanthropic aspirations while fostering a sense of community around every challenge. We started it with friends, and we continue to support its vision and its growth. The team at Access Ventures provides management support to the Foundation and its donor-advised fund accounts.
Why We Started It
For a century, philanthropy has grown more efficient and, too often, more private at the same time. The donor-advised fund removed the friction from giving but it can also remove the relationship, turning generosity into a quiet, solitary transaction at a distance from the people it's meant to serve.
We began the AV Foundation from a different conviction: that human flourishing is communal, that dignity is shared, and that a good life (and good philanthropy) is built with others, not apart from them. If that's true of the world we're trying to build, it should be true of the way we give. So we set out to reimagine the DAF as an instrument of communion by pooling not only capital, but wisdom, relationships, and discernment around shared challenges.
What Makes It Different
As a boutique fiscal sponsor, the AV Foundation offers what the large commercial DAF providers generally can't:
Flexibility & agility. Tailored approaches to both grantmaking and investment portfolios, including the ability to align a DAF's invested assets with a donor's values.
Education. A focus on the impact of assets rather than simply the size of them by helping each donor and family clarify the difference they want to make.
Pooled activities. Building community around shared challenges, so donors can work together and magnify their impact rather than giving alone.
Beyond individual DAFs, the Foundation also stewards shared vehicles like the LX Endowment, extending the same communal, mission-aligned approach to the broader Access Ventures ecosystem.
Why It Matters To Us
The AV Foundation is where our one-pocket conviction meets generosity. Just as we believe invested capital should serve human flourishing, we believe charitable capital should too that is deployed intentionally, aligned with values, and given in a way that draws people toward one another rather than away. By founding and supporting the AV Foundation, we help make collective giving the norm, so that more capital, and more people, are pointed toward a flourishing society.
Learn more, explore DAFs, or open a fund at theavfoundation.org. The AV Foundation is supported by Access Ventures.
