A share class is a security designation that indicates the rights, privileges, fees, and expenses associated with the shares. Share classes are a common way of offering the same mutual fund investment at different costs. The investment objective and strategy, portfolio manager, and underlying investments are identical across share classes. 

What varies is the cost structure. Typically, the higher the minimum initial investment, the lower the expense ratio. This allows you to get the same high quality regardless of which share class you choose. A share classes that Vanguard Charitable donors typically have access to are: Vanguard Admiral, Institutional, and Institutional Plus share classes.

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The net asset value, also known as share price, is the value of a mutual fund. The net asset value (NAV) is calculated each business day as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), generally at 4 pm, ET. 

The NAV per share is computed by dividing the total assets, minus liabilities, of the fund by the number of fund shares outstanding. 

On U.S. holidays or other days when the NYSE is closed, the NAV is not calculated, and the fund does not sell or redeem shares. However, on those days the value of the fund’s assets may be affected to the extent that the fund holds securities that change in value, such as foreign securities that trade on foreign markets that are open.

Indexing is an investment strategy for tracking the performance of a specified market benchmark, or index. 

An index is a group of securities whose overall performance is used as a standard to measure the investment performance of a particular market. There are many types of indexes. Some represent entire markets, such as the U.S. stock market or the U.S. bond market. Other indexes cover market segments, such as small-capitalization stocks or short-term bonds. The index sponsor determines the securities to include in the index, the weighting of each security in the index, and the appropriate time to make changes to the composition of the index. One cannot invest directly in an index.   

Index funds typically have the following characteristics: 

• Variety of investments: Index funds generally invest in the securities of a variety of companies and industries.
• Relative performance consistency: Because they seek to track market benchmarks, index funds usually do not perform dramatically better or worse than their benchmarks.
• Low cost: Index funds are generally inexpensive to run compared with actively managed funds. They have low or no research costs and typically keep trading activity, as well as brokerage commissions and other transaction costs, to a minimum compared with actively managed funds. 

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An expense ratio is a fund’s total annual operating expenses expressed as a percentage of the fund’s average net assets. 

The expense ratio includes management and administrative expenses, but it does not include the transaction costs of buying and selling portfolio securities. Vanguard Charitable is able to offer a direct pass-through of Vanguard expense ratios and does not add additional fees for investing. 

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An exchange-traded fund, or ETF, is a security that tracks the value of an index, commodity, or basket of assets in the same way as a mutual fund does, except it trades like stock on stock exchanges

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.