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Review of Fidelity Charitable Giving Report 2023

What is this Report

The report is an annual report of Fidelity Charitable donor advised giving for the prior year. It explores both giving to Fidelity Charitable donor advised accounts as well as giving from donor advised funds to charities.

What are key findings from the article?

Fidelity Charitable Giving Report 2023
  • Fidelity Charitable donors gave $11.2 billion in 2022. Grants went to over 188,700 organizations.
  • 57% of contributions were non-cash assets, like crypto and stocks.
  • People gave $38 million in cryptocurrency to their donor advised funds in 2021. That’s down from $330 million in 2021 but up from $28 million in 2020. This may be a course correction over high values for cryptocurrency in 2021. Those non-publicly traded assets like private equity and limited partnership interests, totaled $1.4B.
  • 56% of DAFs have balances under $25K. 35% have balances between $25K and $250K. There are 9% of DAFs with more than $250K on their balance sheets. The median balance was $19,442.
  • 88% of DAFs made at least one grant in 2021. 63% gave the grant to charities to be used “where needed most.” 46% were re-grants; 31% were scheduled grants to the same organization; and 23% were grants to new organizations.
  • 4% of donors were anonymous, which is unchanged from 2021. 15% of gifts only included the Giving Account name while 81% included the donor name and address.
  • Religion remains number one for distribution of grant dollars, followed by human services and education, the same as last year. Human services decreased slightly from 2022 giving. The organization that has received the most DAF grants was Doctors without Borders, again #1, followed by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and then World Central Kitchen. American National Red Cross dropped from #3 to #4.
  • Over $2 billion was allocated to impact investments, down from $3 billion in 2021.

What can I do as a result?

  • Thank your donor advised fund donors. The report confirms that only 4% are completely anonymous. Send thank you’s and make phone calls to this segment, unless of course they specifically ask you not to. Just because they give through a gift vehicle, that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t appreciate that special touch. It might make the difference between that one-time gift and a yearly one.
  • Can your organization accept non-cash assets? If so, display this information prominently! You want your donors to consider giving from their entire wealth, not just cash or disposable income. With 66% of all donations to DAFs as non-cash assets, it’s a solid bet that many of your donors are looking for a way to donate appreciated stock and other non-cash assets. If your organization can accept assets, you should let people know so they can donate them directly to you. If you can’t accept these assets, make sure to connect and build a relationship with your local Community Foundation so donors can create a DAF if needed.
  • Consider a campaign specifically for DAF account holders. There’s a lot of money flowing in and out of donor advised funds. Plus, we know that recurring donations are a real boon to nonprofits. With 77% of donations from DAFs going to charities that had already received prior gifts, there’s a real opportunity of turning a one-time gift into a recurring one!
  • While DAFs have their controversies, they are here to stay. The time to get ready to accept donor advised funds is now.

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