The median expense to asset ratio increased slightly across all size cohorts from 2021, unsurprising given the number of foundations whose assets decreased over that time while operating expenses increased.  75 percent of all survey respondents that reported for both years reported increasing their expenses in 2022. (n=184)

For the second straight year, roughly two-thirds of all reporting community foundations ended their fiscal year with an overall operating surplus, which provides some level of flexibility to invest in special initiatives and community leadership efforts.

The median community foundation reporting for both 2021 and 2022 increased their operating budget by nine percent (n=130), up from seven percent the year before. Across all asset size cohorts, the majority of operating budget dollars go toward staff expenses (n=225).

Administrative fees continue to serve as the main source of operating revenues for community foundations across the field. Larger community foundations will be more likely to maintain somewhat diversified earned revenue streams that include fee for service offerings, while smaller community foundations tend to do more direct fundraising to support operations.

Nearly all respondents said that they will first attempt an appeal to a DAF holder to activate the fund after a predefined period of time after which the fund is considered dormant. Follow-up step are often included in the donor's original fund agreement; many said that those steps included one or both of distributing DAF dollars in alignment with the donor's original intent and transferring the funds into the community foundation's unrestricted funds. (n=144)

All but two community foundations take some action to activate a dormant DAF after five years pass without the recommendation of a grant, and 80 percent of respondents said they take action after three years. In cases where the time horizon extends to 10 or more years, it is likely because the donor stated an intention to have their fund grow before making larger grants in the future. (n=140)

Over 80 percent of respondents said they have a policy in place to activate dormant DAFs, defined by the passage of a predefined period of time without the recommendation of a grant by the donor advisor. (n=177)

DAFs hosted by community foundation consistently maintain higher distribution rates than other fund types. Just about half of all respondents reported an aggregate DAF distribution rate of 10 or more percent. Overall distribution rates tend to be higher at larger community foundations, who have a higher proportion of both DAFs and non-endowed funds than their smaller peers. (n=190)

With fundraising totals decreasing across the field while grantmaking increased, DAF flow rates, or grant to gift ratio, increased for all size cohorts. 43 percent of all respondents reported a DAF flow rate higher than 100 percent, meaning those community foundations all granted more from their DAFs in 2022 than they brought in as gifts. This is markedly higher than 2021, when roughly 20 percent of respondents reported flow rates higher than 100 percent.

DAFs are both a significant source of gift and grant activity for community foundations. They also tend to reflect broader growth trends. DAF asset levels and fundraising totals both decreased from 2021 levels, while grantmaking totals continued to climb. (n=193)