Built for Balance: The Snyder Family on Alternative Investments

The Snyder family business sale

Lee Snyder has learned that planning can only take you so far. He and Carol met on a blind date in 1981—one conversation that turned into more than four decades together. At 32, he lost his job, a setback that led him to co-found VaproShield, a construction materials company, with business partner Phil Johnson in 2001. Over the following decades, the business grew into something worth building a life around, and worth eventually selling.

The Snyders did just that. But before the sale process began, Lee donated a portion of the business interest to a donor advised fund (DAF) with The Signatry, a 501(c)(3) public charity. Lee and Carol shared that finding The Signatry at the exit of the business was a divine intervention that has led to minimized taxes and increased giving ability and a community of believers growing in gratitude through generosity.

For the Snyders, the call to generosity takes shape around two causes in particular: Young Life, the youth ministry where Lee first found faith as a teenager, and clean water access for villages in Honduras. Now, that call comes with greater financial capacity to answer.

Business-savvy generosity

That same entrepreneurial instinct—building toward something more—carries into how the Snyders advise the fund itself.
To give, grow, and grant are at the core of a donor advised fund at The Signatry. As their giving and granting to the causes they love continues, the Snyders also make investment recommendations to grow the fund through a mix of publicly traded security pools and private alternatives, including real estate, for the fund’s balance.

Alternative investments in donor advised funds

Donor advised fund sponsors often offer investment opportunities in public stock markets to grow the fund’s balance. However, there are other private investment opportunities, known as alternative investments, that may offer unique possibilities for growth and impact.

The Signatry allows a DAF balance to be invested in vetted alternative investments. This allows those dollars to make impact now, potentially generate a return, and make a greater impact for the future.

To date, The Signatry has helped direct funds toward more than 200 values-aligned, mission-driven enterprises through alternative investments. We’ve partnered with donors on investments in businesses that develop cutting-edge cancer diagnostics, connect nonprofits with innovative cash-back programs, fuel housing development in high-demand markets, and more.

Alts benefits

• The opportunity to diversify DAF investments for sustainable growth
• The potential to earn a higher rate of return than traditional investments
• The opportunity to impact a specific industry or social enterprise

Ready when opportunity comes

Alternative investment opportunities don’t run on a set schedule. Having a fund already open and ready means that when a prospect for kingdom impact arises, the fund could already be positioned to say yes. In 2025, 31 donor families said yes alongside The Signatry—together making 78 investments totaling $66,420,339.

Hear from other donors who had their “yes” ready:
The Trogden Family
Jason Roberts

Balance, revisited

“You can get more of a mix of alternatives and the stock market, so you have a balance of investments that can grow in different opportunities. You’re not just predicated on what’s going to happen up and down every day in the Dow Jones or the S&P—you’ve got investments in real estate, private equity, or whatever it might be.”

— Lee Snyder, donor to The Signatry, watch his full story

It’s the same lesson Lee learned long before the fund existed, through a blind date, a layoff, and a business built from scratch: not everything can be planned for, so build for balance instead.

Lee describes it as a matter of understanding what to do with the wealth you’ve created—how much to give away now and how much to let grow as a kind of “nest egg” within the DAF for future giving.

Have more questions on alts?

The right mix of alts and traditional holdings depends on your goals. Could this be what God has next for you? What could balanced, business-savvy generosity look like in practice?

Download our free Alternative Investment Fact Sheet

Visit our Alternative Investment FAQs to explore what’s possible for the fund.