Fidelity Charitable—the largest Donor-Advised Fund provider in the world—recently released its 2025 Giving Report, offering a comprehensive look at the 2024 giving trends and key performance data among Fidelity Charitable DAF holders. With unmatched scale in DAF assets, grants, and accounts, Fidelity Charitable’s data provides a valuable snapshot of how donors are using DAFs to support nonprofits.
We’ve broken down the biggest insights, year-over-year changes, and new trends you should know—here’s what stood out:
Total distribution volume grew by an impressive 25%, while the number of grants grew by 12%
Fidelity Charitable reached a record-breaking $14.9 billion in grants, marking a 25% year-over-year increase and reinforcing its upward trajectory. The remarkable growth of an entity of this size highlights the thriving state of the DAF industry and its continued rise.
These numbers also align with broader market trends in 2024. Schwab reported that the S&P 500 saw a 23% increase, and both the Nasdaq and Nasdaq 100 rose nearly 29% and 25%, respectively.
The number of individual grants increased by 12% from 2023, indicating that in 2024, donors not only made larger gifts but also supported nonprofits more frequently.
Number of accounts and donors sees a steady increase
The number of Fidelity Charitable Donor Advised Fund accounts and donors continued to rise, increasing by 10% and 9%, respectively—both showing stronger growth than in 2023. Accounts grew to 217,402, up from 197,834 in 2023, while the number of donors reached 352,052, up from 322,139 the previous year.
It's important to note that the number of donors and accounts are not the same, as multiple individuals are often associated with a single Donor Advised Fund (1.6 individuals per account on average). Over the past decade, the number of Fidelity Charitable donors has more than doubled.
Grant distribution to a wider range of nonprofits
In 2024, Fidelity Charitable disbursed grants to over 213,000 unique nonprofits, a 7% increase from the previous year. This included nearly $50M in grants to support Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton relief efforts—challenging the common misconception that Donor Advised Funds are not used for emergency fundraising.
Since its inception, Fidelity Charitable has directed grants to nearly a third of all U.S. nonprofits, totaling more than 433,000 organizations.
Grants are disbursed “steadily” and “continuously”
74% of contributions to Fidelity Charitable Donor Advised Funds are distributed to nonprofits within five years. This challenges the critique that DAFs simply hold funds without directing them to charitable causes, instead supporting the idea that DAFs are a tool to organize and maximize giving, rather than to withhold support from nonprofits.
DAFs serve a broad range of donor types
The median Donor Advised Fund account balance of $23,534 grew by 10% year over year. 51% of total account balances are under $25K and only 11% exceed $250K. While high-net-worth donors are the most likely to have a DAF on a relative basis, the majority of DAF donors are what most nonprofits would consider “mid-level” or “sustainer” level donors.
Only 5% of DAF gifts were made anonymously
Only 5% of Fidelity Charitable grants were anonymous, countering the common misconception that all, or even most, DAF gifts lack donor transparency. 80% of gifts included the donor’s full name and mailing address, while 15% only included a fund name (which can be difficult to match to a specific person)
Tools like DAFpay, Chariot’s express-checkout for DAF giving, automatically prompt a donor to provide their name and email so that every DAF gift can be matched to a specific individual, immediately.
Corporate DAF activity sees a surge
For the second year, Fidelity Charitable has reported corporate grant activity—and the numbers are striking. In 2024, corporate grants through Fidelity DAFs surged by over 75%, reaching $525 million compared to $237 million in 2023. This significant growth underscores the expanding role of DAFs in corporate philanthropy, as more businesses use DAFs to maximize their charitable giving and introduce initiatives like Employe Benefit DAFs.
Crypto donations increase by over 14x
Donations of cryptocurrency to Fidelity Charitable DAFs skyrocketed, increasing by 14x—or 177%—compared to 2023. Crypto contributions played a significant role in the broader trend of non-cash giving, which made up 67% of all contributions to Fidelity Charitable DAFs last year.
Contributing non-cash assets to a DAF, like cryptocurrency or publicly traded securities, allows donors to eliminate capital gains taxes on the appreciation of these assets, enabling them to donate more than if they sold the assets and donated the proceeds. It also makes for a streamlined experience for nonprofits, when a donor can contribute non-cash assets once to their DAF and then make cash grants to lots of different organizations easily with their DAF account. That way, no organizations have to deal with accepting and liquidating crypto, stocks, etc.
Nearly 80% of DAF grants in 2024 went to organizations that donors had supported in the past
In 2024, nearly 80% of DAF grants were directed to organizations that donors had previously supported, continuing a consistent trend from 2023. More than half of these contributions (54%) were made to nonprofits within a donor’s home state.
This trend highlights an important fact about DAF donors–they are intentional and strategic philanthropists who structure their giving to consistently support the causes they care about most. Their commitment to long-term giving and dedication to specific organizations demonstrates the strong relationship they maintain with their chosen causes.
DAF investment growth generates $29.9 billion for charitable organizations
One of the most compelling factors of Donor Advised Funds is their ability to grow funds pre-committed to philanthropy through investment, amplifying the impact of each contribution. Since Fidelity Charitable began investing donors’ giving assets, it has generated nearly $30 billion in additional funds for charitable causes–a true testament to how DAFs are a tool for maximizing philanthropic impact.
Average grant size increased by 15%
The average grant size through Fidelity Charitable increased by 15%, rising to $5,422 from $4,625. This shift follows a slight dip in 2023, suggesting that donors are regaining confidence in the economy and are now more willing to make larger, impactful gifts.
Average number of grants per donor increased slightly, rising to 12.3
The average number of grants per donor saw a slight increase, reaching 12.3. This marks a 4% rise, up from 11.8 in the previous year.
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