Fidelity Charitable reports record‐high DAF grants for first half of 2019

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30652
• Published date: 01 September 2019
• Date: 01 September 2019

SEPTEMBER 2019 NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

7

© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

Nonprot Research

Survey sheds light on giving habits

of U.S. college grads

New research from educational fundraising

platform GiveCampus sheds light on the charitable

giving habits of college-educated Americans, a

large segment of the population that is increasingly

concerned about the rising cost of higher education

in this country.

The report, 2019 Economics of Education Report:

U.S. College Graduates’ Views on Giving, Student

Debt, and the Cost of Education, is based on a survey

of 1,000 college-educated American adults. Of those

surveyed, upwards of 80% consider the costs of

attending college to be one of the most important

issues of the day—a number that rises when looking

at those who have made charitable donations to their

alma mater.

The survey offers some interesting insight into

this population that could help fundraisers looking

to connect with them. For example:

• Their alma mater is not top of mind when it comes

to giving. College-educated Americans are three

times more likely to have donated to a nonprot in

the last 12 months than they are to have donated

to their alma mater. That is due, in part, to the fact

that many alumni aren’t aware their alma mater is a

nonprot or that its budget may depend heavily on

private philanthropy, the report said.

• Many who have donated to their alma mater in

the last 12 months could be convinced to give more.

Respondents in this subgroup said if they could select

how their donation would be used and if they received

regular updates about the impact of their donation,

they would be willing to give more, and give more

frequently. And about four in 10 said they would likely

give more frequently or in larger amounts if they

could donate easily and quickly from their phone.

• Nondonors are also convincible. The same things

that would lead donors to give more and/or more

frequently would also spur more nondonors to give

to their alma maters. According to the report, 44%

said they would be more likely to donate if they

could select how their donation would be used, and

32% said they would be more likely to donate if

they received updates on the specic impact of their

donation.

• Email is preferred. The survey showed that email

is by far the most preferred channel through which

people would like to be solicited by their alma mater.

Fidelity Charitable reports record-high DAF grants for rst half of 2019

Fidelity Charitable, a leading administrator of

donor-advised funds, reported a record-high dollar

amount of grants made through its accounts for the

rst half of 2019, indicating that the DAF segment

will continue its rapid growth in popularity among

the donor class.

According to Fidelity, its donors recommended

$4 billion in grants through the end of June 2019, a

48% increase compared to the same period last year.

All told, some 668,000 donor-recommended grants

went to 105,000 charities. In 2018, for comparison,

the rm’s DAF donors awarded a total of $5.2

billion in grants for the entire year—$700 million

more than the previous year—beneting around

142,000 charities.

According to Fidelity, the surge in DAF dona-

tions is due in part to a practice called bunching,

where individuals make larger-than-usual donations

to their DAF accounts that will be used to fulll

their charitable giving for several years. It allows

them to maximize the tax advantages of their dona-

tions in times when smaller contributions might not

be as advantageous due to changes to the tax code

enacted at the end of 2017.

The company has also expanded the various op-

tions available to its donors in an effort to help them

maximize their charitable giving. Fidelity account

holders may now contribute the cryptocurrency

Ripple to their DAFs, adding another form of what

it calls “complex assets,” like private stock, limited

partnership interest, real estate or cryptocurrency,

that donors can use to fund their philanthropy.

For more information, visit https://www.

delitycharitable.org. ■

(See SURVEY on page 8)