Why donor-advised fund sponsors top the list of charities by contributions
Sort US charities by contributions received and the top of the list is dominated by donor-advised fund (DAF) sponsors. A DAF sponsor is a public charity that holds accounts for donors: the donor gets a tax deduction when they contribute, then recommends grants to other charities over time.
The largest sponsors on this site
| Charity | Contributions | Grants paid | Net assets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund Boston, MA · FY2025 | $26.5B | $15.3B | $85.9B |
| National Philanthropic Trust Jenkintown, PA · FY2025 | $15.2B | $6.42B | $55.8B |
| Donor Advised Charitable Giving Lone Tree, CO · FY2025 | $11.1B | $8.87B | $47.4B |
| Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund New York, NY · 2024 | $5.83B | $3.08B | $12.7B |
| Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program Southeastern, PA · FY2025 | $5.75B | $3.50B | $27.2B |
| The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University Redwood City, CA · FY2025 | $3.26B | $888M | $55.8B |
| Silicon Valley Community Foundation Mountain View, CA · 2024 | $3.13B | $3.33B | $10.5B |
| Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Alpharetta, GA · 2024 | $3.03B | $2.60B | $6.03B |
| Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Indianapolis, IN · 2024 | $2.97B | $1.65B | $8.98B |
| Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD · FY2025 | $2.89B | $1.35B | $20.2B |
| Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN · 2024 | $2.86B | $607M | $16.5B |
| American Online Giving Foundation Newark, DE · FY2026 | $2.46B | $2.32B | $213M |
| Renaissance Charitable Foundation Indianapolis, IN · 2024 | $2.16B | $771M | $5.90B |
| The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY · FY2025 | $2.08B | $996M | $20.5B |
| Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA · FY2025 | $1.99B | $676M | $28.9B |
| President and Fellows of Harvard College Cambridge, MA · FY2025 | $1.85B | $1.09B | $66.5B |
| The Chicago Community Trust Chicago, IL · FY2025 | $1.70B | $1.23B | $7.05B |
| American Endowment Foundation Hudson, OH · 2024 | $1.69B | $1.31B | $8.40B |
| Washington University Saint Louis, MO · FY2025 | $1.62B | $651M | $17.8B |
| Yale University New Haven, CT · FY2025 | $1.54B | $861M | $48.5B |
How to read their numbers
- Contributions are what donors put into their accounts during the year.
- Program expenses are mostly grants out to other charities, so program shares are very high.
- Net assets are the money still in donors' accounts, which is why it can be many years of grants.
Schedule D, Part I of the filing reports the number of DAF accounts, contributions to them, grants from them and the year-end balance. Many organizations that aren't primarily DAF sponsors (community foundations, universities, some national charities) also hold DAFs; Part IV, line 6 of Form 990 says whether an organization does.