We now have DAF (proposed) regulations!  If that seems like a strange thing for a human being to apply an exclamation point to (it is), consider that there are hundreds of billions of dollars in donor-advised funds (DAFs), with complex rules and prohibitions but barely any real guidance.  The DAF rules were created by the Pension Protection Act on August 17, 2006.  There are human beings driving cars and getting ready to vote in the next Presidential election who have never known a world without the DAF rules.  And today marks the first proposed regulations.

And after today… well… we still have some questions.  But it’s something!

Considering that these regulations have been nearly twenty years in the making, it would be prudent to do a slow and careful review of the regulations and advise on what they portend for the donor-advised fund (DAF) world and the nonprofit sector.  But I find hasty overreactions more fun to write, so here are some key takeaways from these proposed regulations, released today.

I will not pretend to be the most diligent follower of legislative developments and Supreme Court cases. It is important, no doubt, but I excuse myself based on my limited reserve of emotional energy to allocate to disappointment. It probably never has been, but the current state of affairs is not a source of inspiration. No award-winning musicals will be made of one Senator’s quest to save the filibuster at the apparent expense of democracy (though admittedly “Manchin!” sounds like a more interesting writing project than this blog). There will be no prestige historical drama about the conquest of the American judiciary by the Federalist Society.

But as the keeper of a non-profit legal blog, I have an obligation to briefly (and perhaps cynically) address two big developments from the past month: The ACE Act and Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta.