# National Christian Foundation (NCF) The largest Christian-identified donor-advised fund (DAF) sponsor in the United States — the religious-right counterpart to [[DonorsTrust]] in the broader [[Dark Money Ecosystem]]. Founded in 1982 by Larry Burkett, Ron Blue, and Terry Parker, NCF has cumulatively distributed over $20 billion to Christian-aligned causes through its DAF and related vehicles, making it one of the largest grantmakers by total giving in American philanthropy. Assets under management exceed $6 billion. ## How It Works NCF operates as a DAF sponsor — donors contribute assets (cash, stock, real estate, business interests, cryptocurrency) to NCF, receive an immediate tax deduction, and then direct grants to charities of their choosing through their NCF-managed fund. The DAF structure provides two features critical to the dark-money ecosystem: **anonymity** (the receiving charity sees a grant from "National Christian Foundation," not the individual donor) and **timing flexibility** (donors take the tax deduction immediately but can distribute funds to recipients over years or decades). NCF's Christian identity distinguishes it from secular DAF sponsors like Fidelity Charitable or Schwab Charitable, and from the movement-conservative [[DonorsTrust]]. NCF donors are motivated by religious conviction, and NCF provides "giving counsel" that steers donors toward causes aligned with evangelical Christian priorities. This advisory function makes NCF not just a pass-through vehicle but an active shaper of Christian philanthropic flows. ## The Anti-LGBTQ Funding Controversy NCF has been documented as one of the largest funders of organizations designated as anti-LGBTQ by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Investigative reporting by Sludge and other outlets found that NCF-sponsored DAFs directed millions of dollars annually to organizations including the [[Alliance Defending Freedom]], the [[Family Research Council]], [[Focus on the Family]], and other groups that oppose LGBTQ rights through litigation, lobbying, and public advocacy. Because the DAF structure anonymizes individual donors, NCF serves as a mechanism through which corporate executives, tech entrepreneurs, and other donors whose public brands would suffer from association with anti-LGBTQ causes can fund those causes without disclosure. ## School Choice and [[Religious Liberty]] Litigation For the school-choice ecosystem, NCF routes Christian donor money to voucher-aligned organizations including ACE Scholarships, [[EdChoice]] state affiliates, and the [[Alliance Defending Freedom]]. NCF has also been a major funder of the religious-liberty litigation infrastructure that produced the four foundational SCOTUS cases: *[[Trinity Lutheran v. Comer]]* (2017), *[[Espinoza v. Montana]]* (2020), *[[Carson v. Makin]]* (2022), and the *[[St. Isidore Catholic Charter Case]]* test case. The religious-school-funding doctrine these cases established directly serves NCF's donor base, many of whom operate or support private Christian schools. ## Comparison to DonorsTrust NCF and [[DonorsTrust]] perform structurally identical functions — anonymized donor-advised fund management — for different constituencies within the right-wing donor ecosystem: | Feature | NCF | DonorsTrust | |---------|-----|-------------| | **Donor base** | Evangelical Christians | Movement conservatives / libertarians | | **Cumulative giving** | $20B+ | $2B+ | | **Assets** | $6B+ | ~$1B | | **Key recipients** | ADF, FRC, Focus on the Family, Christian schools | Heritage, [[Federalist Society]], state policy network | | **Ideological frame** | Biblical stewardship | Free-market principles | | **Anonymity function** | Shields donors from anti-LGBTQ association | Shields donors from political association | Together, NCF and DonorsTrust form the two pillars of the right's anonymized giving infrastructure — one religious, one secular, both serving the same strategic function of routing large donations through opaque vehicles. ## KB Significance NCF illustrates the structural role of donor-advised funds in the right-wing ecosystem. The DAF model — immediate tax deduction, deferred and anonymized distribution — creates a financial architecture where donor intent is laundered through institutional intermediaries. For the KB's dark-money analysis, NCF is significant because it demonstrates that the religious-right funding infrastructure is not separate from the secular dark-money network but runs on the same financial mechanics, serving the same anonymization function for a different donor constituency. ## See Also - [[Dark Money Ecosystem]] — The broader dark-money architecture - [[DonorsTrust]] — The secular-conservative DAF counterpart - [[Alliance Defending Freedom]] — Major NCF grant recipient; leads religious-liberty litigation - [[School Choice Ecosystem]] — The movement NCF's education giving supports - [[Christian Nationalism Ecosystem]] — The ideological ecosystem NCF's donors inhabit