National Philanthropic Trust Donor-Recommended Grants to Charities Surpass $4.94 Billion in 2023

NPT donor-advised fund year-over-year grant volume increase 14%.

Grantmaking continues to surpass 2019 pre-pandemic generosity in key benchmarks.

National Philanthropic Trust (NPT), the largest national, independent public charity that manages donor-advised funds (DAF), granted $4.94 billion to qualified charitable organizations in the U.S. and 51 other countries on behalf of its donors in 2023. NPT donors recommended a historic 119,801 grants to over 39,035 charitable organizations last year.

Through Calendar Year 2019 (the last complete calendar year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic) to 2023, the total value of NPT grants to charitable organizations grew 196% from $1.67 billion to $4.94 billion, the number of grants grew 91% from 62,858 to 119,801, and the number of charities that received grants grew 65% from 23,595 to 39,035.

“The 2023 NPT grantmaking data affirms that DAF donors have sustained generosity,” said Eileen Heisman, CEO of National Philanthropic Trust. “There was more modest charitable giving growth in 2023 compared to the heights of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021, yet generosity exceeded all key benchmarks compared to 2019. Compared to 2019, grantmaking value increased 196% in 2023 to a greater number (65%) of more charities.”

Donor grantmaking between 2019 to 2023 experienced double or triple-digit growth in both value and volume across all eight charitable subsectors: Arts and Culture, Education, Environment and Animals, Health, Human Services, International, Religion, Society Benefit.

“While 2023 began with global economic uncertainty, it ended with markets rebounding, reduced inflation, positive news on key financial indicators, and the Federal Reserve signaling lower interest rates to come,” said Heisman. “As the leader of NPT and among the longest tenured DAF sponsor CEOs, this positive news gives charitable organizations the opportunity to identify and engage with new and existing DAF donors. Cultivating these donors today lays the foundation for future growth to support important community work.”

NPT Calendar Year 2023

- $4.94 billion in donor-recommended grants, a 196% increase compared to 2019, the last calendar year prior to the pandemic

- 119,801 grants were awarded to charitable organizations in every state, the District of Columbia and 51 countries, representing a 14% increase from 2022 and a 91% increase from 2019

- 39,035 charitable organizations received donor-recommended grants, a 12% increase from 2022 and a 65% increase from 2019

“Currently DAFs account for over 10% of our donations, which is extremely important to the work we do every day in our community,” said Tyler Stratton, Associate Director of Youth Programs at Greater Chicago Food Depository. “We really count on support from our DAF donors.”

Matt Forti, Managing Director of One Acre Fund said, “Close to 25% of our donations come from DAFs. Our donors with DAFs are reliable and committed to our organization, which now more than ever is extremely helpful and gratifying.”

NPT affiliates NPT UK and NPT Transatlantic, saw year-over-year increases in both value and volume of grantmaking in 2023.

About National Philanthropic Trust

Founded in 1996, National Philanthropic Trust (NPT) is the largest national, independent public charity that manages donor-advised funds and one of the leading grantmaking institutions in the U.S. Since its founding, NPT has raised more than $57.3 billion in charitable funding and has made more than 720,000 grants exceeding $28.5 billion to nonprofits around the world. NPT annually publishes the Donor-Advised Fund Report, the sector’s authority on the state of DAF philanthropy. Visit NPT’s resource library to learn what you can do with a DAF and about NPT’s impact investing options. More at NPTrust.org and NPTGivingPoint.org.

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