Report · Donor-advised funds
The donor-advised fund merry-go-round
Donor-advised funds granted $103B across the FY2022 to FY2023 filings. $9.7B of that, 9% of all DAF grants, went to another donor-advised fund rather than to a working charity. Sector-wide, 59% of DAF grant dollars reached a working charity directly.
The short version
- Donor-advised funds granted $103B across the FY2022 and FY2023 IRS filings, the two years with complete coverage.
- $9.7B of that went to another donor-advised fund rather than a working charity, 9% of all DAF grants.
- Sector-wide, 59% of DAF grant dollars reached a working charity directly.
- The largest single DAF-to-DAF flow was $1.3B, from Silicon Valley Community Foundation to Navigation Charitable Fund, another donor-advised fund.
A donor-advised fund holds money that a donor has already given away for tax purposes but has not yet sent to a working charity. The donor recommends grants over time. The funds are run by sponsors: the charitable arms of Fidelity, Schwab and Vanguard, faith-based funds, and community foundations. They are the fastest-growing part of US giving.
Some of what they grant never reaches an operating nonprofit. It moves to another donor-advised fund. Across the two years of complete filings, donor-advised funds granted $9.7B to other donor-advised funds, 9% of everything they gave. The largest single transfer was $1.3B from Silicon Valley Community Foundation to the Navigation Charitable Fund. Money can sit in this layer for years, counted as a gift but not yet doing any work.
Where a DAF dollar goes
Every dollar a donor-advised fund grants, split by what it lands on. A grant to another DAF or intermediary can defer the money reaching an operating nonprofit by years.
The merry-go-round
Grants flowing between the largest donor-advised funds. The thickest arcs are the biggest commercial sponsors funding each other in both directions. The single largest flow is $1.3B from Silicon Valley Community Foundation to Navigation Charitable Fund.
The biggest DAF sponsors
Ranked by grants made. The second figure is the share that reached a working charity rather than another intermediary. Community foundations release most of their money. Commercial sponsors keep more inside the regranting layer.
How concentrated the sponsors are
The same sponsors sized by grant dollars, against the 1,255 sponsors in the data. A handful of commercial funds account for most of what the whole sector grants.
Three things in the numbers
In a single hop
The largest DAF-to-DAF flow runs from Silicon Valley Community Foundation to the Navigation Charitable Fund, another donor-advised fund. The money changes hands without reaching an operating charity.
The big sponsors fund each other
Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable and National Philanthropic Trust grant hundreds of millions to one another, in both directions. The largest commercial funds are each other's recipients.
Some release, some hold
Charles Koch Charitable Fund send 100% of their grants to working charities. Marin Community Foundation sends 23%, keeping the rest inside the regranting layer.
Questions and answers
- What is a donor-advised fund?
- A donor-advised fund holds money that a donor has already given away for tax purposes but has not yet sent to a working charity. The donor recommends grants over time, and the fund is run by a sponsor such as the charitable arm of a financial firm, a faith-based fund or a community foundation.
- Why does it matter that donor-advised funds grant to each other?
- When one donor-advised fund grants to another, the money counts as a charitable gift but has not reached an operating charity. It can sit in this layer for years before doing any work. About 9% of DAF grants move this way.
- Do all donor-advised fund sponsors behave the same?
- No. Community foundations release most of their money to working charities, while the commercial sponsors run by large financial firms keep more of it inside the regranting layer, granting to other donor-advised funds and intermediaries.
- How is this measured, and what does it miss?
- Flows are read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, counting grants between organizations resolved by EIN. Contributions from individual donors into a DAF are not in this data, so the inflow captured is only what arrives from other organizations.
More from the funding graph
Figures are read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file XML for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, the two years with complete filing coverage. Flows count grants between organizations resolved by EIN. Contributions from individual donors into a DAF are not in this data, so the inflow it captures is the share arriving from other organizations, not the total. A DAF sponsor is identified by name. Source: IRS Form 990 downloads.