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January 31, 2024 - National Philanthropic Trust (NPT) recently released its 2023 Donor-Advised Fund Report, which captures data from the 2022 fiscal year of 1,151 donor-advised fund (DAF) sponsors. As the report notes, in 2022 the U.S. economy saw a decline in unemployment, but also a decline in disposable personal income as well as the most significant decline in the stock market since the 2008 financial crisis. In light of these realities, total charitable giving in the U.S. declined in 2022, yet DAF donors increased their giving.

DAFs are now experiencing continued growth but at a slower pace than most recent years (DAFs grew steeply in all metrics during the pandemic and its aftermath). The 2023 DAF Report indicates growth in grants and contributions but decreases in charitable assets and the payout rate. Let’s take a closer look at the new information provided by NPT.

• The total number of individual DAFs reached 1,948,545, a 2.9% increase over the revised 2021 number of 1,893,762. The compound annual growth rate of total DAFs from 2018 to 2022 is 22.6%.
• Contributions to DAFs reached an all-time high at $85.53 billion, an increase of 9% over 2021. Contributions to and grants from DAFs grew in tandem, at 9%.
• Grants from DAFs to qualified charities increased by 9% compared to 2021 and totaled $52.16 billion, a new high for grant dollars. Despite the slower rate of growth from 2021 to 2022, grants have increased 118% over the past five years.
• Charitable assets within DAFs were $228.89 billion in 2022, a slight decrease of 1.1% from 2021’s revised number of $231.35 billion. Significant stock market declines in 2022 contributed to this decrease.
• The DAF payout rate for 2022 was 22.5%. 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, and the average payout rate between 2018 and 2022 is 24.8%.

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 DAF Program Manager at 214.978.3303.