Fidelity Charity Fund Disbursed $2.1-Billion in 2013

Fidelity Charitable, the donor-advised fund operated by Boston financial house Fidelity Investments, made grants totaling $2.1-billion on behalf of clients last year, up 29 percent from 2012, writes The Boston Globe.

Reckoned the country’s second-biggest charity in The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s most recent Philanthropy 400 list, Fidelity Charitable collected $3.6-billion in gifts in the 2013 fiscal year, much of it in the form of appreciated stocks and mutual funds. It made grants to more than 80,000 organizations, with the number of $1-million-plus payments increasing by 47 percent.

Donor-advised funds, which allow customers to take an immediate tax write-off on contributions without having to give the money to charity right away, have grown rapidly in recent years, engendering debate because the money they hold can sit indefinitely without being spent for philanthropic purposes.

Read a Chronicle of Philanthropy opinion column by a critic of the donor-advised funds.