August 11, 2010 | Read Time: 1 minute
More signs that giving is recovering from the downturn: Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund on Wednesday reported that it raised 67 percent more in the first six months of the year than it did in 2009. Donors provided $457-million so for this year.
Donors set up accounts at the gift fund, get an immediate tax deduction, and then channel the money for specific causes whenever they want.
Not only are donors giving more, but many people are creating funds: The Fidelity fund, the third largest charity on The Chronicle‘s Philanthropy 400 survey, reported that the number of new donor-advised funds established grew by 19 percent in the first half of 2010.
In the first six months of the year, donors distributed $531-million, or 16 percent more than in the first half of 2009. That was the largest amount ever distributed in the first half of the year by the Fidelity gift fund since it was founded in 1991.
The healthy increase in contributions to Fidelity is due largely to the stock market’s recovery, officials said. More than half of the assets donated to the gift fund this year have been in the form of appreciated securities, up from 32 percent in the first half of 2009.
While Fidelity contributions show strong signs of recovery this year, the $457-million donated so far still lags behind the amount given before the recession started. In the first six months of 2007, donors gave $552-million to the gift fund.
