Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank and wealth manager, is starting a donor-advised philanthropy fund that aims to reach $1 billion over the next few years. The fund, GS Gives, is initially focused on the firm’s 350 partners who will be strongly encouraged to donate a fixed amount of their compensation, said the New York Times. If each partner gives $250,000, the fund will begin with $87.5 million. Eventually the fund will be open to a larger group of Goldman employees. Goldman’s asset management group will manage the fund free of charge. Goldman has been relatively unscathed by the sub prime meltdown and has earned $8.2 billion for the first nine months of 2007. In 2006 Goldman made $9.4 billion in profit. “We know we make a lot of money, and we know that we live in this world and we have a responsibility to give something back,” said Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman's chairman and chief executive. Donor-advised funds permit individuals to receive a charitable deduction for setting aside the money and avoid the taxes applied to private foundations. Also, donating through the fund means not having to pay the legal and overhead expenses of managing a private foundation. Other banks have started donor-advised funds, though they are typically aimed at clients. In 2003, Merrill Lynch started the Merrill Lynch Community Charitable Fund, which allowed wealth management clients and employees to set aside money that could then be used to make donations to community foundations of the donor's choice.