Vanguard Charitable reaches remarkable milestone, surpassing $20 billion granted since inception

Malvern, Pa. October 1, 2024 - Vanguard Charitable, a leading nonprofit and trusted sponsor of donor-advised funds (DAFs), announced today that the organization has issued $20 billion in grants since its founding in 1997—spanning over 1.8 million grants to more than 130,000 nonprofit organizations. This impressive milestone is possible due to the exponential increase in charitable giving from Vanguard Charitable donors between February 2020 and September 2024, when granting skyrocketed from $10 billion to the current $20 billion milestone.   

“As we reflect on this remarkable milestone, I am grateful for our donors, their commitment to philanthropy and their time with Vanguard Charitable to maximize their impact,” said Rebecca Moffett, president of Vanguard Charitable. 

“We are proud our DAFs have increased philanthropy around the globe. Surpassing $20 billion granted in just 27 years is a testament to the power of a DAF and its ability to impact the missions of tens of thousands of organizations. We’re excited to continue supporting our donors as they set and achieve ambitious giving goals.” 

An increase in DAF adoption, an increase in impact 

Over the past two decades, donor-advised funds have evolved from a niche giving vehicle to a philanthropic mainstay. Donations to DAFs rose from $9 billion in 2010¹ to almost $48 billion in 2020², demonstrating impressive growth of 412% over just 10 years. Simultaneously, giving to foundations grew by just 123% over the same period.³ In 2020, the $48 billion donated through DAFs represented 10% of charitable giving in the United States.⁴

For donors who have held accounts with Vanguard Charitable for years, their tenure reflects the time-tested effectiveness of DAF giving for long-term charitable impact. Even for new and prospective donors, they recognize the value in giving with Vanguard Charitable in a multitude of ways to help them achieve impactful, philanthropic success.

At Vanguard Charitable, donor account growth has risen 41% per year since 1997. In February 2020, Vanguard Charitable eclipsed a $10 billion granting milestone, and by leveraging best-in-class charitable investment options, electronic grant payments, and other philanthropic resources for donors, doubled that granting in just over four years.

Compared to the early days of Vanguard Charitable, donors today can recommend grants quickly with the support of Grant Payments, one solution to granting delays extending beyond efficiency. Grantee organizations recognize the need to process gifts quicker having received more than $1 billion in grants total to charities in just over one year.

According to Vanguard Charitable’s own Why Giving Matters: Donors give more effectively over time with a donor-advised fund, donors become more generous the longer they use DAFs. Donors whose DAF accounts have been open for 10 or more years give more consistently and more monetarily on an annual basis than those who recently opened accounts. Among donors whose account tenure is 10-plus years, 71% report they give more because of their Vanguard Charitable DAF.

For more information about Vanguard Charitable or giving through donor-advised funds, please visit www.vanguardcharitable.org.

About Vanguard Charitable
Vanguard Charitable is a leading U.S. nonprofit organization that fulfills its mission to increase philanthropic giving by administering a donor-advised fund—a tax-effective way to consolidate, accrue, and grant assets to charity. Since it was founded by Vanguard⁵ in 1997 as an independent 501(c)(3) organization, Vanguard Charitable has granted more than $20 billion to charity. More information is available at vanguardcharitable.org.

Vanguard Charitable: 
Crystal Fountain

888-383-4483
press@vanguardcharitable.org