Emily Browne ’00 graduated from Birmingham-Southern with a degree in biology and a desire to give back.

Growing up in Birmingham with multiple family members who also graduated from BSC – including her mother, Kathy Kyzer ’68; aunt, former Board of Trustees member Ann Adams ’65; and grandfather, John Evins ’33.

“I have been blessed with many opportunities from BSC in particular,” says Browne. “I grew up knowing it was such an important institution and gained a tremendous amount of knowledge from my time there.”

Browne’s family instilled the concept of giving back early in her life.

“It’s not a choice. It’s what we are and who we are and what we do,” says Browne.

In the nearly 20 years since Browne left the Hilltop, she has attended graduate school at Vanderbilt, worked as a nurse practitioner at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital during her post-graduate fellowship, and is now the Director of the Transition Oncology Program at St. Jude. In 2011, Browne was recognized by BSC as an Outstanding Young Alumna.

While living in Memphis, Tennessee, she met her husband, Michael Browne. They both already had established careers and did not need the pots and pans that are typically found on a wedding registry, so in lieu of traditional gifts, they requested donations to a charitable foundation.

They set up a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) through the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, which greatly eased the process of giving.

The funds that were donated as their wedding gifts, as well as their continued annual gifts, are all processed in one place.

“It simplifies everything, and is a really nice way to limit the amount of paperwork required to make a gift,” says Browne. “It’s just click, click, click, and you’re done.”

The ease of having digital access to the funds means that the balance, history of giving, and the ability to redirect the funds is available online.

It also assists with long-term financial planning, as you can write a gift to the DAF in your will, and then can change charities through the DAF without going through the long, legal process of changing your will.

“Giving to BSC is something that has been a habit – an annual thing for me,” says Browne. “It is important to me that we make sure the institution is around for another 100, 200 years, and that the opportunities I experienced still exist.”

Switching her annual giving to a DAF, through a foundation such as the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, still allows Browne flexibility in giving to the College, whether she wants to give to the annual fund, general operations, or endowed funds.

There are more than 750 Community Foundations across the U.S. that create DAFs, all with the goal of keeping a proportion of charitable funds in the community – although almost any charity or non-profit can be designated through the DAFs.

Find your closest Community Foundation here, to set up your own DAF today. The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham serves Blount, Jefferson, St. Clair, Shelby, and Walker counties.

If you have any additional questions about DAFs or using a Community Foundation, contact BSC’s Director of Development – Planned Giving, Meredith Wolfe Alsabrook ’09 at (205) 226-4977 or [email protected].