January 29, 2014; Boston Globe

Fidelity Investments has announced that although donations flowing into the donor advised funds by clients of its charitable gift fund were stable at around $3.6 billion last year, the donors made grants from those accounts amounting to $2.1 billion in 2013, a 29 percent increase from 2012. Additionally, the size of grants rose six percent to more than $4000, but this was affected by a 47 percent rise in the number of million dollar–plus gifts.

Organizations in human services, religion, and education were most likely to be recipients of those grants.

“Gains in the stock market and new tax rules introduced last year prompted donors and their advisors to closely consider how to best fund philanthropy,” according to Sarah Libbey, president of Fidelity Charitable.

For more on the growth of charitable gift funds in general, visit Rick Cohen’s article from August 2013, “Making Charitable Money Flow: Mixed Results with Donor-Advised Funds.”—Ruth McCambridge