Vanguard Charitable donors granted more than $2.6 billion to charity in 2023

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Jan 30, 2024, 09:00 ET

The leading grantmaker and donor-advised fund provider helped donors exceed a previous record year of giving by nearly 40%

MALVERN, Pa., Jan. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Vanguard Charitable, a leading nonprofit and sponsor of donor-advised funds (DAFs), announced today that its donors granted more than $2.6 billion in 2023 to nonprofits in need, a 39% increase over 2022. Marking Vanguard Charitable's seventh straight year of record giving, the nonprofit's donors recommended over 209,000 grants to more than 56,000 unique charities. This worldwide donor support reflects over $18 billion granted since the organization's inception in 1997.

"Our donors continue to give significantly and repeatedly, enabling 2023 to be an incredibly generous year," said Rebecca Moffett, president of Vanguard Charitable.

This past year, donors consistently supported their favorite causes, while the Vanguard Charitable donor-advised fund also enabled them to step up in times of imminent needs. On the heels of an industry-wide charitable annual funding decline of over 3%, according to Giving USA's 2023 report, Vanguard Charitable, once again, proved a silver lining for nonprofits.

"Being able to respond nimbly, plan thoughtfully, and give more over time are hallmarks of donor-advised funds, and we're proud to assist donors in implementing giving plans that make a difference locally and globally," Moffett continued. "Our donor generosity hit an all-time high in 2023, and we certainly look forward to continued generosity for years to come."

2023 by the numbers:

Vanguard Charitable donors made informed granting decisions to a variety of cause areas in 2023, and disaster relief efforts were top of mind. This year, donors granted more than $70 million to over 1,000 unique nonprofits in support of disaster relief. Additionally, there was a bolstered focus on human services granting, with nearly double the dollars granted to the cause area compared to 2022.

Vanguard Charitable donors directed their granting to the following top-five cause areas, in order of popularity by number of grants issued: human services (60K), religion (45K), education (32K), health (26K), and environment & wildlife (17K).

The top 10 nonprofits supported by Vanguard Charitable donors, by number of grants issued, were:

Doctors Without Borders, USA
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
World Central Kitchen
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
International Rescue Committee (IRC)
Samaritan's Purse
Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
UNICEF USA
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation

A year of trusted philanthropic resources

Throughout 2023, Vanguard Charitable enhanced its capabilities to benefit the charitable sector and enable donors to amplify giving and respond to needs swiftly. More than half of the total dollars granted by donors were unrestricted, meaning charities could use the funds where they were needed most to support their missions.

Granting solutions for nonprofits

In August 2023, Vanguard Charitable launched Grant Payments with PayPal. Grant Payments offers a long-desired industry solution for charities wanting to receive funds from grantmakers faster while avoiding the hassle of waiting for and processing physical checks. Since launching Grant Payments, Vanguard Charitable donors have electronically granted more than $460 million to over 8,000 eligible charities. Funds are now arriving in charity bank accounts in as quickly as minutes to hours.

"Nonprofits like Roadrunner Food Bank are honored to receive charitable contributions from donors who designate funds through their Vanguard Charitable account," said Sonya Warwick, director of communications and events at Roadrunner Food Bank in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Warwick believes that the partnership between Vanguard Charitable and PayPal has significantly improved the process of receiving grants from donors.

"As a state that experiences high levels of hunger, receiving a donor's designed contributions nearly right away allows us to put their gift to work more quickly. The food bank no longer must wait for a check to arrive, and the funds are transferred nearly immediately to us," Warwick stated.

Designing purposeful systems to support donors' charitable journeys

Vanguard Charitable recently launched MyGiving to enable effective charitable planning and help donors make informed decisions; Discover Charities, a network of dedicated lists of highly rated nonprofits focused directly on specific disasters; and the Why Giving Matters study, which reviewed a decade's worth of donor giving data and found that Vanguard Charitable donors give more and give more effectively because of their donor-advised funds. Vanguard Charitable continues to refine its commitment to facilitate meaningful and responsive giving in an ever-evolving philanthropic landscape.

To learn more about the generosity of Vanguard Charitable donors, please see here for Vanguard Charitable's Annual Report: www.vanguardcharitable.org/2023annualreport.

For more information about Vanguard Charitable or giving through donor-advised funds, please visit www.vanguardcharitable.org.

About Vanguard Charitable

Vanguard Charitable is a leading U.S. nonprofit organization that fulfills its mission to increase philanthropic giving by administering a donor-advised fund—a tax-effective way to consolidate, accrue, and grant assets to charity. Since it was founded by Vanguard¹ in 1997 as an independent 501(c)(3) organization, Vanguard Charitable has granted more than $18 billion to charity. More information is available at www.vanguardcharitable.org.

¹Although Vanguard provides certain investment management and administrative services to Vanguard Charitable pursuant to a service agreement, Vanguard Charitable is not a program or activity of Vanguard. A majority of Vanguard Charitable's trustees are independent of Vanguard.

SOURCE Vanguard Charitable