January 30, 2023

How the DAF Industry Controls the Data and Attempts to Control the Narrative

January 30, 2023/ Dan Petegorsky, Guest Contributor

Donor-advised fund sponsors like to present an upbeat picture of their field. In this guest piece, Dan Petegorsky makes a case for why that can be misleading — and how the DAF industry tilts the story in its favor.

December 08, 2022

Rose-Colored Glasses: The Trouble With Industry Numbers on American Generosity

December 08, 2022/ Philip Rojc

This time of year, we see a lot of big numbers celebrating Americans’ outsize generosity. While there are things to celebrate, such industry-generated figures often gloss over concerning trends related to inequality.

December 01, 2022

Three Questions We Have About a Philanthropic Future Dominated by DAFs

December 01, 2022/ Philip Rojc

As of last year, American donors are putting quite a lot more into donor-advised funds than they are into foundations. Even as calls for reform persist, we consider what the future might look like should this trend continue.

July 27, 2022

Big Giving, a Down Market, and Continued Calls for Reform: The Latest in the DAF Debate

July 27, 2022/ Mike Scutari

New reports show that charitable giving through DAFs surged in the first half of 2022. We dig into the data, the latest calls for DAF reform, and what it means for fundraisers navigating a challenging economic climate.

May 24, 2021

Decades of Warehousing Charity Dollars—the “Fidelity Effect” on Charitable Giving

May 24, 2021/ Chuck Collins, Guest Contributor

DAF critics have long argued that the vehicles starve nonprofits of much-needed funds by “warehousing” charitable donations. Guest contributor Chuck Collins discusses new research that puts a figure to those fears.

March 03, 2021

Five Major Takeaways from Fidelity Charitable's Latest Giving Report

March 03, 2021/ Philip Rojc

The contentious DAF explosion continued in 2020, with the largest sponsor—and largest overall grantmaker in the nation—leading the charge. Here’s how the picture changed during a year of great turmoil, and how it didn’t.

July 18, 2019

It's Now the Biggest U.S. Grantmaker and Getting Bigger All the Time. Here’s a Closer Look

July 18, 2019/ Philip Rojc

In 2018, Fidelity Charitable became the country’s largest grantmaker, churning out $5.2 billion in grants to 142,000 nonprofits. That’s big money. Where did it go? And what does the rise of this DAF juggernaut tell us about philanthropy’s changing landscape?

October 06, 2017

Where You Live, How You Give: What a Fidelity Study Says About U.S. Donors

October 06, 2017/ Alyssa Ochs

The nation's top donor-advised fund, which made a staggering 849,000 grants in 2016, has crunched its data to analyze what giving looks like in different regions of the U.S. It's worth paying attention.