Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations are indicators of sustainable and responsible business practices. Environmental criteria indicate how a company performs as a steward of the natural environment. Social criteria examine how a company manages relationships with its employees, suppliers, clients, and communities. Governance criteria include a company’s board and leadership, executive pay, financial and other controls, and shareholder rights. There are several types of activities associated with ESG investing.   

Exclusionary screening: The exclusion of certain sectors, countries, and securities from an investment universe based on specific ESG-related criteria.

Inclusionary screening:  Proactive investment in sectors or companies selected for higher ESG ratings relative to industry peers or other investment opportunities.

Norms-based screening: A form of exclusionary screen that sets minimum standards criteria for business practice based on companies’ adherence to international norms (e.g., human rights, corruption)

Investment options that seek to maintain a stable asset allocation (such as 20% stock, 80% bond) are reviewed by fund managers on a daily basis to ensure target allocation remains consistent. Some investment options, such as target retirement accounts, may change allocation over time based on long-term goals and strategies.

No, linking your Vanguard and Vanguard Charitable accounts is a one-time process.

Learn more about linking your Vanguard and Vanguard Charitable accounts.

If you are unable to move forward to the next step of your transaction online, follow these steps. 

• If the Next button is not activated (it didn’t turn blue), you may have missed a step in the process. Go back through the steps and review each field. (Tip: Sometimes dropdown menus are missed.)
• If you are using a desktop or laptop computer, you may find it helpful to use the TAB key in the upper left corner of your keyboard to advance to each field. Then when you get to the bottom of the screen, the Next button should be activated (or turn blue).
• If you’ve tried tabbing through the flow and reviewed all the fields to ensure you didn’t miss one, and the button is still not active, give us a call at 888-383-4483.

Linking your account is a one-time process. Follow these instructions to link your accounts. 

You are eligible to contribute online if: 

• You are contributing from an individual, joint or trust account.
• You are an owner or trustee on the Vanguard account.
• All registered owners/trustees have online access to vanguard.com. 

Follow these instructions to link your accounts: 

1. Log in to Vanguard Charitable.
2. On the My Profile page, in the Web Access Information section, under Access Key, click Generate.
   • This one-time access key expires after 4 hours and is case-sensitive. Copy and paste your access key to avoid errors.
3. Click on the access key to copy it to your computer's clipboard, then click this link: Vanguard Philanthropic Center where you can log into your Vanguard account.
4. Click on Documents then Tax Forms & Information.
5. Locate Additional Resources and click on the Vanguard Philanthropic Center.
6. Select Make a Donation and enter your Vanguard Charitable user ID and access key to link your accounts. 

Once linked, you can make a contribution by completing the steps until you submit. 

A few notes: 

• When contributing from a joint account, the joint owner is required to provide authorization to contribute from this account from their Vanguard secure message center.
• This authorization lasts five years. Account Advisors and Interested Parties can also link their Vanguard and Vanguard Charitable accounts to contribute online through vanguard.com. 

Learn how to make a contribution of assets held at Vanguard.

To donate specific lots, you should provide the holding firm with your cost basis details when you initiate the transfer of assets.  

If the assets are held at Vanguard, see below for more details. 

Enter your contribution on vanguard.com through the Vanguard Philanthropic Center. If you have elected specific identification for your cost basis method you will be able to select which lots of shares to donate during the contribution process. However, the shares may use average cost, instead of original cost, if they are non-covered or if the shares were purchased prior to an exiting average cost. 

Please refer to vanguard.com to view the basis prior to selecting lots. You can only change the cost basis method through the account maintenance page on vanguard.com. If the position is currently average cost, a nightly cycle is required to update the available lots. 

Instructions are provided on the form if a paper form is used. For contributions entered on vanguardcharitable.org you have three options:

1. Submit a Letter of Authorization. This form includes a place to identify specific lots.
2. Locate a Letter of Authorization. This form requires signatures and dates from all registered owners of the account. If additional pages are needed, all registered owners must sign each page. This form must be received by Vanguard Charitable via email or fax at the time the contribution is entered. 
3. Contact your Vanguard representative when you enter your contribution on the Vanguard Charitable website. You will need the following information during the call:
   • Vanguard account number
   • Mutual fund name or security symbol
   • Date the shares were acquired
   • The quantity of shares and original purchase price 

If you have additional questions regarding cost basis, please contact us.

While donor-advised funds are ineligible to receive direct distributions from IRAs, learn how Vanguard Charitable can accept QCDs as a tax-neutral event. Assets must be claimed as income first and then donated. However, you can donate your RMDs or QCDs to one of Vanguard Charitable’s two mission-driven funds. As mission-driven funds, they are eligible to receive RMDs and QCDs, but you will not have discretion over grants from this fund. Please note this will also result in a tax-neutral event. 

Sustainable Disaster-Relief Fund (SDRF): A mission of providing high-impact aid to people and places at risk of being impacted or already impacted by disasters. It fulfills its mission by supporting disaster preparedness and long-term recovery efforts. 

Philanthropic Impact Fund (PIF): A mission of elevating the philanthropic industry. It works to help donors make informed granting decisions and educate nonprofits on providing effective and efficient solutions to increase capacity and capability. 

Be sure to contact your tax professional to determine if this is the best approach for you.  

Learn more about SDRF and PIF.

Please visit our year-end giving page to see all granting and contribution deadlines for year-end giving.

Our minimum contribution to establish an account is $25,000, and additional contributions have a minimum of $5,000. 

For accounts with less than a $25,000 balance, there is an annual maintenance fee of $250. Accounts are assessed in February on accounts that have been open for more than 6 months. 

Learn how to open a Vanguard Charitable donor-advised fund account. 

Learn how to fund your account. 

Read our Policies & Guidelines.

We keep our fees low so more dollars go to charity. Our industry-low all-in fee is made up of an administrative fee and an investment fee. For more information on our fees, please see our Fees & Minimums page.