Assets of Donor-Advised Funds Totaled $12.3-Billion Last Year, Survey Finds

Assets held by many of the nation’s biggest donor-advised funds rose to $12.3-billion

last year, and the funds awarded $2-billion in grants to charities, according to The Chronicle‘s third annual survey of gift funds.

The asset figure reflects information provided by 75 donor-advised funds that responded to the survey, including 16 offered by commercial investment companies, 46 by community foundations, and 13 by other organizations.

Donor-advised funds allow people to donate cash, stock, or other assets, claim a tax deduction, and then recommend how money in the fund should be distributed to charities.

Among 72 organizations that provided asset figures for their donor-advised funds in both 2000 and 2001, the value of the funds rose 9.6 percent. The total amount the funds distributed increased by 26.4 percent, to $2-billion, for the 68 organizations that provided giving information for both years.

The number of people who set up donor-advised funds increased 24.9 percent, from 42,653 in 2000 to 53,275 last year, among 69 organizations that provided comparable data.

Some donor-advised funds were too new to offer figures for both fiscal 2000 and 2001. For example, OppenheimerFunds set up its Legacy Program in December 2000, so its data reflect one month of fiscal 2000 and all 12 months of fiscal 2001. SEI Investments, in Oaks, Pa., began offering its Giving Fund last October. Its data cover only three months of fiscal 2002.

Data from other new donor-advised funds are not included in the survey. For example, Allfirst Financial, in Baltimore, which started its Charitable Gift Fund in November 2001, declined to participate, saying its fund was too new.

The community foundations in the survey were selected from the 50 organizations that raised the most in 2000, based on an annual study conducted by the Columbus Foundation, in Ohio.

The survey was conducted by Marni D. Larose with assistance from Debra E. Blum and Martha Voelz.