On average, donor advised funds make up more than a third of assets for community foundations larger than $250M. Although DAFs continue to grow, they don't appear to comprise significantly more of respondents' asset bases than in previous years.
Averages were used to total 100%. (n=238)
Smaller, emerging community foundations that may be focused on asset growth typically have a relatively high proportion of endowed assets. Larger community foundations, with an increased focus on diversifying their portfolios and donor bases, are more likely to have a higher proportion of pass-through funds.
Median percentages for the proportion of assets that are endowed and non-endowed may not add up to 100% due to rounding. (n=227)
Aggregate community foundation donor advised fund (DAF) asset, gift, and grant totals all saw a higher rate of increase in FY18 than the field as a whole. DAF grantmaking grew at a higher rate (4%) than assets and gifts (2% each).
To measure longitudinal growth using a consistent sample, focus is kept on the largest 100 community foundations by asset size as reported in FY18. Assets grew by slightly more than 1 percent for this group, while total gifts increased for the third consecutive year and now approach $10B, and grantmaking grew for the seventh straight year.
Data reflects the largest 100 community foundations by asset size as of FY 2018 and includes those within the cohort whose data are available for all 10 years (n=98).
While it's typical to see gifts and grants per capita increase with asset size within a sample of Columbus Survey respondents, significant fundraising activity among smaller community foundations in FY18 resulted in per capita metrics that are comparable with some of their larger counterparts. (n=250)
The median survey respondent saw an 8.1% increase in gifts received, up from 7.1% in FY17. Nearly a third of all respondents saw fundraising totals increase by more than 50% over FY17 levels. Grantmaking continues its steady growth across the field, with degrees of change remaining consistent with FY17 survey results.
Gifts per capita is calculated by dividing the foundation’s total gifts (including supporting organizations) by the population of the foundation’s service area. The service area is defined by each community foundation.
Total transactions represent the number of gifts and grants processed annually (including supporting organizations). The average transaction size represents the total dollar value of gifts plus the total dollar value of grants divided by the total number of transactions.