Giving through the donor-advised fund Fidelity Charitable typically goes up each year, but this year grant making has reached unprecedented heights, Fidelity Charitable announced Wednesday.
Grant making for the first 10 months of 2019 already has reached the amount granted for the whole of 2018, and the last two months of any year are usually considered to be the ‘giving months,’ the fund said. Last year, $5.2 billion was given out in grants from Fidelity Charitable donors—a record that is expected to be broken in the next few days, said Fidelity Charitable.
“We expect another $1 billion to be given out in grants on top of that by the end of this year,” said Pam Norley, president of Fidelity Charitable. This would represent a 37% increase in grants over 2018. Donations to the fund also are expected to be up by 22% over 2018. “Our donors are always generous in giving their time and resources, but this year’s grant making exceeded our highest expectations.”
“This shows stability in giving and grant making even in uncertain times,” Norley added. “The market is still up now, but who knows what will happen in the future?”
Norley attributed some of the increase to the fact that women and millennials are gaining control over over more financial resources. In addition, donor-advised funds have made it easier for the philanthropically minded to set aside money that can be given to various charities when the need is there.
“Nonprofits also have become much more targeted in their appeals to potential donors,” she added.
In particular, donors are giving to disaster relief, addiction support organizations and rainforest conservation this year. The grants are being distributed to more than 125,000 charities. “Grant making from donor-advised funds provides stability to the nonprofit sector, both in terms of level grant making throughout the year, and increased grant making in times of market volatility,” Fidelity Charitable said.
Fidelity Charitable offered several tips for donors who want to achieve the greatest possible impact for their gifts.
Donors may want to limit the organizations or causes to be supported to a few and give larger grants. Donors should create a charitable mission statement. They also should consider making unrestricted gifts to give the charity more flexibility.
Donors also can make multiyear gifts so that nonprofits can know what to expect in the future, and they can pool their gifts with other like-minded philanthropists to have a larger impact.