August 20, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
The Chronicle’s 10th annual survey of donor-advised funds is based on information collected from 95 gift funds, community foundations, and other nonprofit groups in the United States.
Donor-advised funds are accounts to which people donate cash, stock, or other assets, claim a tax deduction, and determine how, when, and to which charities the assets should be distributed in the form of grants.
Survey findings were based on information submitted on a Chronicle questionnaire by 40 community foundations, 15 commercial investment companies, 12 Jewish federations, 8 colleges and universities, and 20 other groups, such as religious, international, and social-service charities.
The Chronicle’s survey attempted to poll all organizations known to manage donor-advised funds, with the exception of community foundations.
The community foundations included in the survey were among the 50 that raised the most money in 2008, based on an annual study by the Columbus Foundation, in Ohio.
The Internal Revenue Service began collecting donor-advised-fund information only in 2006, and IRS data for a few organizations that did not complete a Chronicle survey is available in the searchable version of the results on The Chronicle’s Web site.
Data in print includes those organizations that were able to provide some information for the 2009 year, be it partial, complete, or estimated. Additional data from 2007 and 2008, as well as tables on the portion of assets paid in grants over the past five years, administrative fees, and new and closed accounts, are available online at http://philanthropy.com/stats.
The survey of donor-advised funds was compiled by Noelle Barton and Candie Jones, with assistance from Amy Combs.
