Print this article
DAF Donors Ramp Up Charitable Giving; Disasters Spur Payouts
Tom Burroughes
26 August 2025
Vanguard Charitable, a US nonprofit that sponsors donor-advised funds , said yesterday that its donors granted more than $3.5 billion in the financial year of July 2024 to June 2025, rising 14 per cent on a year before. The figures add to other data pointing to rising DAF activity. Earlier in August, DAFgiving360™, one of the largest providers of donor-advised funds in the US, announced a record-breaking $8.9 billion in grants to charitable organizations during its 2025 financial year, ending June 30. Private foundations are also an important charitable channel in the US and certain other countries – there are pros and cons depending on what they’re used for. Arguably, for example, DAFs afford more anonymity and privacy; foundations can give those involved more overall specific control. They have different benefits and challenges for those on a philanthropic journey. On the plus side, DAFs are fully tax-deductible when funding an account; they can also be anonymous; there is no tax code requirement for DAF donors to meet a minimum payout. On the negative side, gifts are usually restricted to IRS-qualified charities; there is less flexibility and control from a giving and investment perspective compared with a private foundation; and there is the risk that lawmakers may require minimum distributions or impose an excise tax on distributions. See this recent interview with Bernstein Private Wealth Management on philanthropy trends.
One of the forces driving more giving was the spate of disasters, such as floods in Texas and the wildfires in Southern California.
The data comes at a time when the wealth sector is continuing to mull the pros and cons of DAFs, private foundations and other structures for philanthropy – areas given an added edge by the continuation of 2017 thresholds for US estate and gift taxes in the One Big Beautiful Bill.
The organization’s DAF data shows that grant-making included nearly 248,000 grants that averaged about $14,000, rising by 2.5 per cent from the previous financial year. Funding was sent to 62,950 nonprofits, covering areas such as human services, religion, education, health, and environment. The top three receiving charities by grant units were Doctors Without Borders; World Central Kitchen, and Samaritan’s Purse, Vanguard Charitable said.
“Our donors continue to demonstrate that generosity doesn’t pause during times of uncertainty, it grows,” Rebecca Moffett, president of Vanguard Charitable, said. “In fact, this growth is not just in dollars granted; it’s in the number of organizations reached and the diversity of causes supported.”
Disasters such as floods and wildfires have driven some of the rise in giving. Compared with the same time last year, donors granted 30 per cent more from January 1 to June 30, 2025, just as calamity struck in places such as California , North Carolina and Texas , Vanguard Charitable said.
More than $11.2 million of those dollars went to hurricane relief and $10 million went to nonprofits aiding communities impacted by wildfires. Also, more than half of grant dollars were unrestricted, an increase from 48.3 per cent last year, an approach that allows charities the liberty to use funding in the areas they deem most critical, it said.