Donor-advised fund and Ukraine: how to grant to a Ukrainian cause from your DAF

You cannot use a DAF to fund a charity registered only in Ukraine. However, you can support a Ukrainian cause through an organization with 501(c)(3) status.

September 28, 2026

12 min

Key takeaways

A DAF sponsor can pay a grant only to an organization with IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) status
Children of Heroes of Ukraine Foundation holds that status: EIN 88-2709953, Denver, Colorado
Any tax deduction arises when you fund the DAF, not when you recommend the grant

If you hold a donor-advised fund, you can direct part of it to a Ukrainian cause. Your sponsor can approve the grant as long as the recipient is an IRS-qualified 501(c)(3) public charity, and Children of Heroes of Ukraine Foundation is one. A grant recommendation to Children of Heroes goes through like any other domestic grant, with no equivalency determination and no intermediary.

Can I grant to a Ukrainian cause from a donor-advised fund?

Yes, but only to an organization the IRS recognizes as a 501(c)(3) public charity.

A donor-advised fund is a giving account held at a sponsoring organization, which is itself a public charity. You contribute, take the deduction available that year, and recommend grants over time. Legally, the sponsor owns the money and makes the grant. Your role is to recommend.

That ownership is the whole story. Because the sponsor is the grantmaker, it has to confirm that every recipient qualifies before a dollar leaves the account. This duty comes from US tax law: the Pension Protection Act of 2006 set the rules for donor-advised funds. Under those rules, if a sponsor sends a grant to an organization that is not a qualified charity, the sponsor itself owes a tax penalty on that grant. So sponsors only approve grants to recipients they can verify.

The useful question, then, is whether a specific recipient holds 501(c)(3) status. Ask that, and the answer for a Ukrainian cause can be yes.

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Why most Ukrainian charities can't receive DAF grants directly

Most Ukrainian charities cannot receive DAF grants directly because they do not hold 501(c)(3) status. The IRS grants that status to nonprofit organizations registered in the United States, and a DAF sponsor can only pay a grant to an organization that holds it. A charity registered solely in Ukraine does not, so the sponsor declines the grant. This is why searching for a Ukrainian charity in a DAF portal usually returns nothing.

How Children of Heroes solves this

Children of Heroes runs a US public charity, Children of Heroes of Ukraine Foundation, recognized by the IRS under section 501(c)(3). A grant to it is a domestic grant, so the sponsor reviews it on its normal terms, with no foreign-grant procedure.

From there, the money moves in three steps:

Your DAF sponsor sends the grant. After approval, the sponsor pays it to Children of Heroes of Ukraine Foundation.
The Children of Heroes of Ukraine in the US transfers it to Ukraine. The US entity sends the money to the Fund’s Ukrainian entity, Children of Heroes Charity Fund.
The Ukrainian entity spends it on each child’s needs. Steady funding is what lets the Fund keep supporting a child until age 19.

How to recommend a grant to Children of Heroes: step by step

The process takes a few minutes in any sponsor’s portal, and the fields are the same everywhere even when the labels differ.

Log in to your DAF sponsor’s portal and choose “Recommend a grant” or your sponsor’s equivalent label.
Search for the recipient by EIN: 88-2709953. Confirm the result reads Children of Heroes of Ukraine Foundation, Denver, Colorado.
Enter the grant amount and, if the portal asks, the purpose. “General support” or “Where needed most” gives the Fund the most flexibility.
Choose how you want to be identified: full name and address, name only, or anonymous. Sharing your email lets the Fund send a thank-you and the reports on what the grant funded.
Review and submit. The sponsor checks the recipient’s status and pays the grant to Children of Heroes of Ukraine Foundation.

Note that processing time varies by sponsor: some pay grants within a few business days, others take longer.

Grant details you'll need

Field	Enter this
Legal name	Children of Heroes of Ukraine Foundation
EIN / Tax ID	88-2709953
Address	514 N Washington St., Denver, CO 80203, USA
Organization type	501(c)(3) public charity, incorporated in Delaware
General questions	[email protected]
Major donations and corporate DAFs	Email at [email protected]

Finding Children of Heroes in your DAF portal

Search by EIN. The name may appear as “Children of Heroes of Ukraine Foundation,” “CHILDREN OF HEROES OF UKRAINE FOUNDATION,” or be truncated, while the EIN is unique. The sponsors through which you can recommend a grant to Children of Heroes are listed on the Fund’s DAF giving page.

If the search returns nothing, most portals have an “Add a charity” or “Request a new grantee” option; enter the details from the table above. If that fails, write to [email protected] and the team will send the sponsor whatever documentation it asks for.

How to check Children of Heroes before you grant

Start with the Fund’s monthly and annual reports. They set out how the money is spent, which programs it funds, and how many children receive support, and they are updated every month.

Then check the entity itself on the Candid profile and the Charity Navigator listing for EIN 88-2709953. Both are built from IRS records, so you can confirm the 501(c)(3) status from an independent source you can trust.

Grant to Children of Heroes of Ukraine Foundation

Your grant funds long-term support for children who lost one or both parents to the war

What your DAF grant supports

A DAF grant to the Children of Heroes Fund pays for long-term, case-managed support for children in Ukraine who lost one or both parents to the war. Each family works with a case manager who coordinates what the child needs over the years: psychological stabilization, education and development, medical care, humanitarian aid, and socialization, until age 19. The Fund treats this support as an investment: a child who receives comprehensive support through to adulthood becomes an adult who helps shape the future.

The scale is easy to underestimate. As of September 1, 2026, 17,082 children were under the Fund’s care, and 10 to 20 more come under its care every day, roughly a new classroom of children every day or two. Seven hundred beneficiaries have already reached adulthood while receiving support from the Fund, and the total support delivered since 2022 comes to more than $23 million.

When the tax deduction happens

The deduction question causes the most confusion, so to state it plainly: the grant itself is not deductible. Any deduction arises when you contribute assets to the DAF, in that tax year, subject to the limits in IRS Publication 526, and the sponsor issues the receipt at that point. Children of Heroes sends an acknowledgment for the grant; the tax receipt comes from the sponsor, because the gift, for tax purposes, went to the sponsor.

We recommend confirming the treatment of your own contributions with your tax advisor.

DAF vs direct donation vs private foundation

If you pay tax in the United States, all three routes deliver the same support to children but differ on timing, cost, and control. The figures below are the general federal rules described in Publication 526; your own limits depend on your income and what you contribute.

	Donor-advised fund	Direct donation	Private foundation
When a deduction may apply	Year you contribute to the DAF; the grant itself has no tax effect	Year of the gift	Year you contribute to the foundation
Yearly deduction limit, share of your income	Up to 60% of your income	Up to 60% of your income	Up to 30% of your income
Minimum amount	Set by sponsor: $50 at Fidelity Charitable, $500 at Vanguard Charitable	None	No legal minimum
Administration	Sponsor handles due diligence, receipts, records	You keep the receipt	Board, annual Form 990-PF, 5% minimum payout
Will the charity know my name?	Only if you choose to share your details	Yes*	Yes, and grants are public on Form 990-PFF
Control	You recommend; sponsor decides	Full	Full, within self-dealing rules

*The Fund does not publish donor details, though it may be required to disclose them in official reporting.

If you already hold a DAF, the account is the simplest route: the deduction is already taken, and the grant is a portal form. If you run a private foundation or a family office and prefer a direct grant agreement, email us at [email protected].

What a DAF grant cannot do

A DAF grant cannot return anything of value to you, because the grant would then no longer be fully charitable. Sponsors decline grants that pay for:

event tickets or seats at a gala
auction items or goods of any kind
memberships that carry more than incidental benefits
support for a specific person you name

Most sponsors also will not approve a grant that satisfies a legally binding personal pledge. If you have already signed a pledge in your own name, ask the sponsor before recommending the grant; the wording of the pledge decides whether it can be paid from the account.

Giving from outside the United States

If you pay tax in the Netherlands, you can give tax-efficiently to Stichting Children of Heroes of Ukraine, the Fund’s Dutch entity, which holds ANBI status, the Dutch public benefit designation. The same entity serves several other EU countries. You can see which countries it covers, and how to give in each one, on the tax-deductible donations page.

If you hold a UK, Canadian, or Swiss donor-advised fund, search for Children of Heroes in your provider’s database first; the Fund is a CAF-validated organization. If your provider does not list it, write to [email protected] and the team will supply the documents your provider needs.

Recommend your grant to Children of Heroes

By recommending a grant to Children of Heroes, you support Ukrainian children who lost one or both parents to the war. Your support enables children’s medical care, education, psychological stabilization, and the long-lasting assistance of a case manager who responds promptly to emerging family needs. With that support behind them, these children can grow up confident, find their place in life, and build a better future.

Invest in Children of Heroes: give through your DAF.

FAQ

Can I donate to support Ukraine through a donor-advised fund?

Yes, if the recipient is a 501(c)(3) public charity. Children of Heroes of Ukraine Foundation is one, so any US sponsor can process a grant recommendation to it as a domestic grant.

Is Children of Heroes a 501(c)(3) organization?

Yes. Children of Heroes of Ukraine Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity incorporated in Delaware and based in Denver, Colorado. Its status can be confirmed on Candid, on Charity Navigator, or through the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search using EIN 88-2709953.

What is the EIN for Children of Heroes?

The EIN is 88-2709953, registered to Children of Heroes of Ukraine Foundation, 514 N Washington St., Denver, CO 80203. Use this number to find the organization in any sponsor’s portal or on the IRS website.

Do I get a tax deduction when I recommend a DAF grant?

No. DAF contributions are generally eligible for a deduction in the year you contribute to the account, subject to IRS limits, and the grant recommendation itself has no tax effect. Consult your tax advisor about your own contributions.

Can I make my DAF grant anonymous?

Yes. Every major sponsor lets you choose, grant by grant, whether the charity sees your full details, your name only, or nothing. If you do share an email, the Fund uses it only to thank you and to send reports on the work your grant funded.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax or legal advice. Please consult a qualified tax professional regarding your individual situation.