Donor-advised fund (DAF) disbursements to charitable organizations declined 1.4% during 2023 to $54.77 billion. Likewise, contributions into DAFs by donors decreased 21.7% to $59.43 billion, according to new data from the National Philanthropic Trust in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania.
DAFs were responsible for roughly 9.8% of all giving in the United States if the statistics for total giving in the Giving USA report released earlier this year at $557 billion and these DAF numbers are accurate.
The data comes from the same period of time that the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500) annual average return in 2023 was 26.3%, an increase from the -18.1% return in 2022. Charitable assets in all DAF accounts totaled $251.52 billion in 2023, a 9.9% increase from $228.92 billion in 2022. The growth in charitable assets under management is attributable in part to gains in global financial markets.
Both the Dow Jones Industrials Average (Dow) and the S&P 500 increased after posting losses in 2022. By the 2023 calendar year-end, the Dow was 13.7% above its December 2022 close and the S&P 500 was 24.2% higher than at the end of the prior year. Market performance varied significantly during the 18-month period analyzed and documented in the report, resulting in different giving patterns between DAF sponsors that report on a fiscal year ending June 30 versus those that report on a calendar year ending December 31.
The decline in contributions to DAFs follows two years after the sharpest increase on record in 2021, attributable to donor response to urgent needs created by the coronavirus pandemic. “The 2024 DAF Report affirms DAFs help stabilize the philanthropic ecosystem when outside influences impact giving patterns,” Holly Welch Stubbing, CEO of National Philanthropic Trust said via a statement. “The 18th annual report data underscores DAF donors continue to give, sometimes despite what economic sentiment may be.”
The National Philanthropic Trust began tracking donor-advised fund data in 2007. The report is based on data collected during 2024 about DAFs and their charitable sponsors in fiscal year 2023. The data file includes records from 1,293 DAF sponsors which operated during at least some of the period since 2007. The Donor-Advised Fund Report is compiled with data from 1,140 charitable sponsors that reported assets in any year from 2019 through 2023.
Number of DAF accounts in the U.S. totaled 1,782,281 in 2023, a 0.6% increase compared to 1,771,709 in 2022, essentially remaining flat. The average DAF account size was $141,120 during 2023, a 9.2% increase compared to $129,206 in 2022. 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, according to data in the 2024 Donor-Advised Fund Report.
The grant payout rate (a calculation of grantmaking dollars from DAFs to charities relative to total DAF charitable assets) was 23.9% during 2023, compared to 24.1% in 2022. The aggregate DAF grant payout rate has exceeded 20% for every year it has been tracked.
The value of DAF grants ($54.77 billion) in 2023 amounts to almost half (48%) of the value of total grants and expenditures from private foundations ($114.11 billion), while DAF charitable assets amount to 16.98% of those in private foundations ($251.52 billion v. $1.48 trillion), according to data from the latest DAF Report and FoundationMark.
The data is primarily from federal Form 990 filings. Researchers for the 2024 report examined 1,140 charitable organizations that sponsor donor-advised funds, including national charities, community foundations and other sponsoring charities.