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December 6, 2022 - National Philanthropic Trust (NPT) recently released its 2022 Donor-Advised Fund Report, which captures data from the 2021 fiscal year of nearly 1,000 donor-advised fund (DAF) sponsors. As the report notes, the U.S. economy grew in 2021, with businesses reopening, the stock market rising, and unemployment declining. The year also saw dramatic growth in each key metric for DAFs and the fastest growth rates on record for contributions and charitable assets. Let’s take a look at the new information provided by NPT.

• The total number of individual DAFs reached 1,285,801, a 27.6% increase over 2020. The average DAF size grew 9% to $182,852. The donor-advised fund continues to be an increasingly popular giving vehicle among donors.
• Contributions to DAFs reached an all-time high at $72.67 billion, an increase of 46.6% over 2020. Significant stock market growth may have been a factor leading to the greater charitable contribution of assets in the year.
• Charitable assets within DAFs grew by 39.5% to $235.96 billion. This growth over 2020 includes the increase in donor contributions to DAFs as well as the market gains of the funds invested within DAFs. One of the key features of a DAF is that the contributions are invested to grow, tax-free, potentially resulting in more money available to grant to charity.
• Grants from DAFs to qualified charities increased by 28.2% compared to 2020 and totaled an estimated $45.74 billion. Grants from DAFs to charity have increased more than 60% in the last two years and over 400% in the last decade.
• The DAF payout rate for 2021 was the highest on record, at 27.3 percent. NPT calculates payout rate as this year’s grants divided by last year’s year-end assets. The payout rate has exceeded 20% every year on record, indicating that DAF-holders are dependable and consistent givers.

We've displayed all the above statistics graphically in this handy PDF. 

If your nonprofit would like to learn more about how to successfully engage with your donors about DAFs, check out this article. If you’re an individual who is interested in learning more about the ways a DAF could benefit you and your charities of choice, call our Client Partner Communications Specialist at 214.978.3303.