As a tax-exempt entity, OFA by law can't intervene in elections and is subject to strict limits on lobbying.

NPR: Obama Outside Groups Forming Influence Network

Pollick is using the model of a community foundation, where charities in a geographic area operate as a single tax-exempt entity.

FORBES: Savior To The Stars

In 1843 the ABS sold the first-ever charitable gift annuity, a now-popular fundraising device in which a person makes a donation to a tax-exempt entity and gets back a specified annual return for life.

FORBES