Funds
A significant portion of the assets in the field are in donor-advised funds (DAFs), which also account for nearly half of all fundraising and almost 60 percent of grant dollars that were deployed in 2023. Although fundraising to DAFs held at community foundations saw significant year over year declines from 2022, they continued to serve as highly active grantmaking vehicles, maintaining high distribution rates and flow rates to ensure that dollars get distributed into communities.
Endowed and non-endowed assets
Smaller, emerging, and growing community foundations typically carry more of their assets in endowed funds than larger peers as they look to grow and sustain themselves by maintaining a reliable source of administrative fee income. Larger community foundations will often move toward diversifying their product portfolios to engage current donors in different ways, while providing a suite of options for prospective donors who may seek the flexibility to spend their funds down at any time.
Median percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding. (n=204)
Product mix
Large community foundations tend to house more DAFs, which can be high touch in nature and require additional staff to grow and manage, than their smaller peers.
Averages were used to total 100%. (n=185)
| Size of Foundation | Donor-advised funds | Discretionary funds | All other funds |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0-$25M | 15% | 20% | 65% |
| $25-$50M | 15% | 21% | 64% |
| $50-$100M | 21% | 18% | 61% |
| $100-$250M | 25% | 13% | 62% |
| $250-$500M | 33% | 14% | 53% |
| $500M+ | 35% | 12% | 53% |
| All | 24% | 16% | 60% |
Total donor-advised fund assets, gifts, and grants
DAFs are a significant source of fund activity within the field and within this data sample. In 2023, they made up 30% of all reported assets, received 47% of all fundraising dollars, and gave 57% of all grant dollars (n=485). Grantmaking totals continued to climb with a median 5% year-over-year increase, despite broad declines in fundraising (with a median year-over-year decrease of 15%).
| Total | |
|---|---|
| Assets | $46,257,637,958 |
| Gifts | $7,549,151,438 |
| Grants | $10,717,573,272 |
Donor-advised fund flow rate
DAF flow rates, calculated as grants divided by gifts, increased across the field for a second consecutive year. 49% of community foundations in the data sample reported a DAF flow rate that was higher than 100 percent, having granted more dollars from their DAFs in 2023 than they brought in as gifts. (n=483)
Distribution rates
DAFs hosted by community foundation are shown to broadly and consistently maintain relatively high distribution rates as compared to other fund types. Close to half of all community foundations reported an aggregate DAF distribution rate of over 10 percent, while a little less than a quarter of the sample reported double-digit distribution rates across all fund types. Overall distribution rates tend to be higher at larger community foundations, which have a higher proportion of both DAFs and non-endowed funds than their smaller peers. (n=485)
| Size of Foundation | Donor-Advised Funds | Whole Foundation |
|---|---|---|
| <$25M | 8% | 5% |
| $25M - $50M | 7% | 6% |
| $50M - $100M | 10% | 6% |
| $100M - $250M | 9% | 6% |
| $250M - $500M | 10% | 7% |
| >$500M | 13% | 9% |
Inactive donor-advised funds policy
Nearly 70% of survey respondents said they have a written policy to activate dormant DAFs after the passage of a predefined, agreed upon period of time without the recommendation of a grant by a DAF holder. It’s expected that some portion of the 24% of survey respondents that didn’t respond to this question have such a policy in place as well. (n=183)
| | Percentage |
|---|---|
| No response | 24% |
| No policy | 9% |
| Policy exists | 67% |
How many years until a DAF is considered inactive?
Every community foundation that said they take action to activate dormant DAFs do so after no more than five years without fund activity, and 85% of respondents said they take action after three years. In cases where the time horizon may extend beyond five years, it will typically be a case of the donor intending to make more impactful grants after some period of growth for their fund. (n=141)
Steps taken to address inactive donor advised funds
Nearly all survey respondents said they would, at minimum, attempt to contact the holder of a dormant DAF to encourage them to activate their fund. Follow-up steps are varied but commonly include distributing the fund in alignment with the donor’s original stated intent or transferring the fund to the community foundation’s own unrestricted fund. (n=163)
What's the idea behind the survey?
CF Insights responds to a hunger for shared knowledge among community foundations. Learn more about how this survey helps us do that.
Questions?
