The "flow rate" of DAFs compares a given year's grantmaking total with its gift total, dividing grants by gifts. This metric may help capture the activity of donors who contribute to their DAF and grant from it that same year.¹ As with distribution rate and other measures of DAF activity in this survey, data is collected in the aggregate by sponsoring community foundation. Data collection on the account level would be necessary to analyze the activity of individual DAF holders. (n=234)

39% of FY18 Columbus Survey respondents had a DAF flow rate of over 100%, meaning that they granted out more from DAFs than they received that year.

¹Heist, H. Daniel, and Danielle Vance-Mcmullen. “Understanding Donor-Advised Funds: How Grants Flow During Recessions.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 2019, pp. 10–11., doi:10.1177/0899764019856118.