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"Hosting" a DAF is not as easy as it might seem. You will want to involve Counsel and your CFO in this process. The University proper cannot be the host. You will need to establish a separate legal entity. I trust that was already done for your one donor. Therefore, you are ahead of the game! However, you cannot use an existing supporting foundation as its mission will likely differ from the mission of a DAF.

There are new overhead costs associated with managing a legally separate DAF. Many institutions I've worked with have found that the cost and responsibility were not worth the time and resource investment. Instead, they partnered with a local financial institution or community foundation to "manage" the assets while earning the institution as a beneficiary. A few, however, have created a separate entity. Here's one:

You will see that Cornell created the Cornell University Foundation, which is a "donor advised fund providing a service for Cornell Alumni and friends." This Foundation is not a governing organization.

Note that in establishing either an "internal" or external DAF product, most require (as is true with Cornell) that 50% of the DAF gift must ultimately benefit the "host" institution. Cornell's somewhat unique approach reduces this requirement the higher the donated amount. However, most of these internally managed DAFs charge a management fee regardless of the required minimum allocation to help cover the administrative overhead.

I cannot tell you which way makes the most sense for Lenoir-Rhyne. Counsel and your CFO should determine that when running the cost numbers.

Good luck!

John