May 31, 2025 |In Fresh Cuts | By Philanthropy Project
The remarkable growth in charitable funds going to (and through) donor advised funds (DAFs) triggers high hopes and deep curiosity across the nonprofit sector, especially among fundraisers. Where do these monies come from? Where are they going? How are they being used? Who is deciding, and who benefits? How can they be contacted?
As the $250 billion DAF sponsor industry has grown to represent 10 of the largest 20 charities in the US, and receives, one out of five charitable tax deduction dollars, so a growing literature is needed to explain this world.
For 18 years the go-to general source for DAF data has been The National Philanthropic Trust, a Pennsylvania-based public charity that each year issues an annual publication, most recently called the 2024 DAF Report. The NPT report provides baseline numbers and trends about the DAF sponsor industry, but it’s reporting only goes so far, as NPT is itself a major DAF sponsor ($30 billion assets) and an industry advocate.
The Independent Report on DAFs is a welcome and original contribution to help educate the public and charitable fundraisers about the role and mysteries of DAFs in the charitable landscape. Going beyond the well-documented growth of funds going to and from DAFs, the Independent Report’s best contributions are its willingness to share source names by reporting which DAF sponsors are included, and in what category, in its data. This is one of the biggest gaps in the NPT reports, not knowing which sponsors are compared or conflated, blurring the lines and blurring the results on issues such as payout rates. We are especially impressed with the transparency and open-source aspect: all of the Independent Report’s sponsor data is available for public download.