A Perfect Example of Donor-Advised Fund Slipperiness in Silicon Valley
When charitable intermediaries tout their generosity, reporters should take a closer look.
Here We Go Again, Again With the Commercial Donor-Advised Fund Industry
Commercial DAF sponsors are squirreling away money intended for charities at a greater clip than they’re giving it away.
The 5 Percent Foundation Payout Requirement May Be a Floor, but the Ceiling Is Awfully Low
Most private foundations stick quite closely to their 5 percent payout requirement. And America’s largest are unlikely to give much more than the minimum.
More than $2.5 Billion in Donor-Advised Fund Grants Went to Other DAFs in 2021
The IRS just released two years of long-awaited nonprofit tax filings. We found an enormous jump in DAF-to-DAF giving.
Private Foundations Gave $2.6 Billion in Grants to National Donor-Advised Funds in 2021
Private foundations are currently allowed to make grants to donor-advised funds, or DAFs, and to count those grants toward their charitable distribution requirement of 5 percent of their assets each year.
The 2022 Giving Slump Exposes the Fragility of Top-Heavy Charity
When ultra-wealthy donors dominate philanthropy, our charities are less resilient.
Until the River Runs Dry
Every year, wealthy donors divert more money into intermediaries, drying up the river of donations meant for working charities. We can change that.
A Self-Tax for the Common Good
Taxpayers are subsidizing donors who retain control of their wealth instead of sharing it through philanthropy.
Donor-Advised Fund Numbers Still Obscure Who’s Giving and How Much
Publishers of donor-advised fund data are including hundreds of thousands of workplace giving accounts in their averages. That skews the picture.
‘Tis Always the Season for Billionaire Philanthropy
Americans are their most charitable at year’s end. But even on Giving Tuesday, billionaire donors crowd out the impact of small-dollar gifts.
Do the Forbes Philanthropy Scores Give Foundation Donors Too Much Credit?
The giving estimates behind the scores include some outlays from private foundations that shouldn’t actually count as charitable giving.
Reining in Philanthropic Megadonors: What the Data Tell Us Is Needed
While megadonor gifts are celebrated, the growing dominance of large donors speaks to an erosion of democratic values. This must be addressed now.
New Report: Gilded Giving 2022
The Institute for Policy Studies’ new report, Gilded Giving 2022, shows the risks of increasingly concentrated philanthropic power.
Report: Gilded Giving 2022
Our nation’s charitable system is in danger of becoming a taxpayer-subsidized platform of private power for the ultra-wealthy.
Giving USA 2022: Charity Sector Stable but Increasingly Top-Heavy
Giving USA 2022 is the gold-standard report on charitable giving in the United States. But this year’s story glosses over two important pieces of long-term context: what has happened to the giving capacity of typical Americans, and where much of the charitable giving has actually gone.