Donor-advised fund assets top $250 billion, but report says gifts in and out of the funds are down
Total contributions to donor-advised funds dropped 21.7% in 2023, while grants made to charities from those funds declined 1.4%, according to a new report by the National Philanthropic Trust
Total contributions to donor-advised funds dropped 21.7% in 2023, while grants made to charities from those funds declined 1.4%, according to a new report by the National Philanthropic Trust.
The 2024 DAF Report looked at the DAF landscape using data for the 2023 fiscal year. While contributions to and grants awarded from DAFs were both down, assets held within the funds grew 9.9% to $251.5 billion, according to the report.
“While individual giving was down, DAF grantmaking remained steady,” a spokesperson for the National Philanthropic Trust said via email. “DAF donors continue to be one of the most consistent funding sources for charities despite economic and financial market headwinds.”
While some fundraisers might look at the new data and think it’s an indication of a decline in the popularity of DAFs, that’s not what Danielle Vance-McMullen sees.
“I don’t think what we’re seeing is a cooling donor base,” said Vance-McMullen, one of the founders of the DAF Research Collaborative. “I think we’re seeing what we’ve seen historically in donor-advised funds: When the stock market is struggling, contributions to donor-advised funds decrease. Luckily, grants from donor-advised funds are relatively resilient.”
Critics of donor-advised funds point to the report data as evidence that wealthy donors are “warehousing” money in the funds to get tax breaks but not doling out the money to struggling charities.
Still, those struggling charities shouldn’t see the report’s findings as a reason to give up on DAFs, said Vance-McMullen, who noted
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