How The Chronicle Compiled Its Latest Survey of More Than 130 Donor-Advised Funds

The Chronicle’s survey of donor-advised funds is based on information collected from 134 community foundations, commercial funds, and other nonprofits in the United States.

Donors provide cash, stock, and other assets to such funds and receive an immediate charitable deduction; they can then decide which charities they want to support and when to make their donations.

The findings of the survey were based on answers submitted to The Chronicle’s questionnaire by 87 organizations, which included 37 community foundations, 14 Jewish federations, 11 commercial-investment companies, five universities, and 20 other organizations such as international, religious, and environmental charities.

Data on an additional 47 organizations are included based on figures in the informational tax returns charities are required to file annually with the Internal Revenue Service.

Because of the large number of community funds, The Chronicle limited the survey to the 50 foundations that raised the most money, based on a study by the Columbus Foundation.

In addition to community funds, the survey polled the 20 colleges with donor-advised assets of at least $10-million, as well as most other organizations with donor-advised assets of at least $1-million.

The IRS requires organizations that manage donor-advised funds to disclose several key pieces of data on their informational returns, such as the number of fund they hold, the total contributions to the funds, and the value of grants awarded to charities.

To alert The Chronicle about any donor-advised funds that should be included in the next study, send an e-mail to research@philanthropy.com.

The donor-advised fund survey was compiled by Sarah Frostenson, Emma Carew Grovum, and Marisa López-Rivera.