Large investment firms such as Fidelity and Vanguard provide investors with an alternative to private foundations in order to obtain large current tax deductions while distributing the money to specified charities over a number of years. 

These funds, known as "Donor Advised Funds" (Fund), allow an individual to set up a charitable giving fund in the form of a  securities account at the brokerage company.  You then decide how the money in the account should be spent by designating your favorite charities, the amount they should receive and when the payment should be made.  The required annual amount of charitable payments by the Fund is very little and your donor investment account can grow for many years. 

Minimum initial contributions to these accounts are usually $10,000 and up.  Contributions can be made in cash or securities.  Subsequent contributions can be made in smaller amounts.  The Fund handles all the internal Fund administrative and tax filing aspects.  You can generally direct the investment of your "Donor Advised Fund" securities account by selecting from various available investment pools (mutual funds).

Since the "Donor Advised Fund" is a tax qualified charity, the initial and subsequent deposits to the accounts are tax deductible when made by you, rather than when a distribution is paid to your designated charitable organization.  If you contribute appreciated securities to the Fund that you have held for more than one year, you will be entitled to immediately deduct the fair market value of the securities on the date of the contribution on your personal tax return.  Furthermore, you will never pay an income tax on the appreciation in value between the date of your original purchase and the date you contributed it to the Fund.  Thereafter the additional asset appreciation in the Fund is not taxable to you and you will have more money available for your charitable purposes.