On February 12, 2020, powered by our donors’ generosity, we gave our 10,000,000,000th grant dollar to charity since our founding in 1997.

That’s $10 billion worth of deserving causes, meaningful actions, and differences made.

This tremendous achievement is a testament to our donors’ passion for charitable giving and the commitment to long-term impact so many of them make. Since inception, Vanguard Charitable donors have issued nearly one million individual grants to more than 100,000 unique charities.

The ten-billion-dollar milestone speaks to the effectiveness of our low-cost, high-value donor-advised fund: As grants have been adding up, so too have investment returns. In the same timeframe that we granted $10 billion, our investment options returned $4 billion in additional growth.

This is $4 billion in charitable impact that would not have existed were it not for our donor-advised fund model and our donors’ strategic investment choices.

Grasping the sheer size of a number like $10 billion—and understanding what it means to hardworking charities around the world—can be difficult. Let’s try to put it in perspective:

View our press release for this milestone here.

In short, we are humbled by our donors’ capacity for giving and inspired by their charitable visions. We are thrilled to be their partners in this journey.

And this is just the beginning: The chart below shows why we expect future milestones to come at an even faster rate.

We look forward to seeing how much more good we can do together in the years to come.

Charitable Giving Badges help you track your progress in your quest to make the world a better place. As you earn badges, you can rest assured that you’re maximizing your impact and putting your tools and strategies to good use. Use your earned badges to discover your strengths as a generous giver!