Donor-Advised Fund Report: Grants to Charities Increase 9%, Hitting a New Record High

Credit: National Philanthropic Trust

The 2023 Donor-Advised Fund Report, which includes data on the state of donor-advised fund (DAF) philanthropy in the United States, shows that the value of DAF grantmaking to charitable organizations increased 9% to $52.16 billion and the number of accounts grew 2.9% to 1,948,545. In 2022, DAFs continued to be one of the most reliable funding sources for charitable organizations, despite a decline in overall charitable giving, inflation, and a challenging year for U.S. financial markets.

“Donors increased the value of their grant recommendations for the thirteenth consecutive year, despite the decrease in overall and individual charitable giving (GivingUSA) as well as the losses in the three main U.S. market indexes and record inflation,” said Eileen Heisman, CEO of National Philanthropic Trust. “Because DAF donors pre-fund their giving with irrevocable contributions, grantmaking from DAFs to charitable organizations is not as correlated to financial markets and individual household economic volatility. Donors already allocated assets in their DAFs to continue grantmaking and could support the causes that mean most to them.”

Continued Heisman, “We believe we are seeing a ‘new normal’ for DAFs, meaning a return to the more modest historical growth rates than the growth we saw during the height of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021. DAF donors recommended 9% more grant dollars than their previous historic high-water mark in 2021.”

2023 Donor-Advised Fund Report Key Findings

• Value of grants from DAF accounts to charitable organizations totaled $52.16 billion in 2022, a 9.0% increase from $47.83 billion in 2021. DAF grantmaking has grown every year since 2009 and more than doubled (119%) in the past five years. This is the first year total grants from DAFs exceeded $50 billion; a new record high.
• Contributions to DAF accounts totaled $85.53 billion in 2022, a 9% increase from $78.44 billion in 2021. Contributions to DAFs are irrevocable and destined for qualified charities.
• Charitable assets in all DAF accounts totaled $228.89 billion in 2022, a 1.1% decrease from $231.35 billion in 2021. This slight decline in charitable assets under management is attributable in part to the constricting of global financial markets during 2022. The decrease was buoyed by DAF donors’ continued utilization of their DAFs to support charities.
• Number of DAF accounts in the U.S. totaled 1,948,545 in 2022, a 2.9% increase compared to 1,893,762 in 2021. Growing interest in workplace giving accounts, lower contribution minimums, and the flexibility of DAFs contributed to this increase.
• Average DAF account size was $117,466 in 2022, a 3.8% decrease compared to $122,162 in 2021. New workplace giving models, growth in popularity of high volume DAF account sponsors, and market volatility contributed to a decrease in the average account size.
• The grant payout rate (a calculation of grantmaking dollars from DAFs to charities relative to total DAF charitable assets) decreased to 22.5% in 2022, from 28.7% in 2021. This 6.2 percentage point decrease follows the two years of the highest payout rates on record in 2020 and 2021. The aggregate DAF grant payout rate has exceeded 20% for every year on record.

“Since the first DAF Report 17 years ago, the variety of giving tools and the charities to give to have increased substantially,” said Heisman. “DAFs are the fastest growing giving tool that donors choose, and charities rely on, for easy, streamlined philanthropy with remarkable consistency. Historically, periods of growth in contributions to DAFs, including 2022, are followed by significant grantmaking from DAFs in the following years. As we look to the future, we expect this grantmaking momentum to continue benefitting charitable organizations in the U.S. and around the world.”

The full 2023 Donor-Advised Fund Report, which includes a comparison by charitable sponsor types, is available at no charge or login requirement here.

Source: National Philanthropic Trust

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