Now that the holiday decorations have lost their shine and the leftovers are gone from the fridge, let’s get back to work! In the inevitable rush towards the recent holiday season, it is hard to stay informed about what went on in the world of donor-advised philanthropy. As we begin a new year, it is our hope at DAFinitive® that we can do so in as informed a way as possible. Never fear, as it’s time for another news roundup!
FreeWill’s webinar on “What to Expect in 2024 from Donor-Advised Funds (December 2023)
The team at FreeWill recently had a really helpful webinar about where DAFs have been this year, what to expect in 2024 and how to utilize those potential grants for your nonprofit.
NPT’s 2023 Donor-Advised Fund Report shared statistics on the rapid growth of DAF giving (November 2023)
As Helen Brown recently shared, the 2023 National Philanthropic Trust’s Donor-Advised Fund Report was released. As expected, contributions to DAFs continued to grow throughout 2022. However, after several years of record-high payout rates from donors, 2022’s results were down slightly, to 22% (as compared to the prior year’s 23.8%. Assets also declined by 1.1% to $228.9 billion from the previous year’s $231.4 billion. While not all sponsors were included or chose to participate in NPT’s survey, nearly 1,200 national, community and single-issue sponsor organizations recorded their results.
New leadership at Philanthropy Roundtable (November 2023)
Christie Herrera, the new president and chief executive officer of Philanthropy Roundtable, discussed her leadership priorities and her thoughts on the direction of the philanthropic sector in a recent interview.
Morningstar compares the top 10 DAF Sponsors (November 2023)
Some interesting statistics to compare and contrast the top ten sponsors, with helpful information such as assets under management and organization type.
The IRS proposed regulations regarding the tax rules for DAFs (November 2023)
The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and US Department of the Treasury issued proposed regulations to section 4966, which dates from the Pension Protection Act of 2006, one of the first pieces of legislation to regulate DAF usage. Key points of these new changes include changing the definition of what is considered a DAF, defining distributions, what distributions will be taxed (or not) and the prevention of outside advisors or managers from receiving compensation from the DAF itself. For those interested in weighing in, the IRS is accepting public comments through 2/15/24.
How nonprofits are using DAFs to solve big problems (October 2023)
Inside Philanthropy featured a collaboration between two NY organizations working together in a new way to tackle more traditionally complicated fundraising goals.
DAFs are a majority of the top 20 most successful public charities in the US (September 2023)
The Institute for Policy Studies cited another recent report by Inequality.org, noting out of the 20 most successful public charities in 2021 (those receiving the most contributions), 11 were donor-advised fund sponsor organizations. The research pulls from reports from the Chronicle of Philanthropy and Forbes, which also investigated the issue. How does this trend affect other organizations that rely on charitable donations, such as the list’s top working nonprofit, Feeding America?
Can I or Can’t I? What can your DAF do? (June 2023)
The National Philanthropic Trust published a handy guide to who is an eligible recipient of a DAF distribution and who isn’t.
Did we miss anything? Let us know!
