What if your giving outlived you?

The strategy. A portion of your annual giving is contributed to a donor-advised fund (DAF), which uses it to pay premiums on a whole life insurance policy on your life that the fund owns and benefits from. The rest of your giving is granted to charity as usual. Premiums run for up to 20 years; after that, your full annual giving resumes flowing to charity. Contributions are generally income-tax-deductible either way, so the comparison ignores tax savings (they roughly cancel out).

Policy growth. The death benefit is modeled so the internal rate of return on premiums equals 4.5% (conservative) or 5.5% (expected) at life expectancy, assumed at age 85. Published analyses place whole life death-benefit IRRs at life expectancy roughly between 3% and 5.5%; carrier-illustrated charity-owned policies often run higher. 2026 dividend interest rates at the four major mutual insurers range from 5.75% to 6.60% (MassMutual 6.60%, New York Life 6.40%, Guardian 6.25%, Northwestern Mutual 5.75%). Dividends are not guaranteed.

The family fund. At your passing, the death benefit lands in the DAF. We assume the invested balance earns 6% (conservative) or 7% (expected) and grants 5% of its balance to charity every year — double the typical private-foundation payout and below the 2024 DAF-sector average of 25.3% (DAF Research Collaborative, 2025 Annual DAF Report; sector assets $326B).

The human research. The Williams Group’s 20-year study of 3,200 affluent families found 70% lose their wealth by the second generation and 90% by the third, with breakdowns in family communication and unprepared heirs as the leading causes (Williams & Preisser, Preparing Heirs). An Ohio State University study (Zagorsky, 2012) found about one-third of inheritors had negative or unchanged savings within two years of inheriting. Suniya Luthar’s research (Columbia/ASU) found affluent youth show depression, anxiety, and substance-use problems at 1.5–2.5× national norms. On the hopeful side: the Women Give 2013 study (IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy) found children whose parents talk with them about giving are about 20% more likely to give, independent of age, race, or income; and on the health of giving itself, Whillans and colleagues (Health Psychology, 2016) found older adults who spent money on others showed lower blood pressure — an effect they compared to exercise or antihypertensive medication — while Dunn, Aknin & Norton (Science, 2008) found spending on others measurably increases happiness. A broader body of research links generosity to a greater sense of meaning and purpose.

What this is not. Not an illustration, not an offer of insurance, not tax or legal advice. Real policies require underwriting, insurable interest, and carrier illustrations. Your numbers will differ. That conversation is the whole point.