All but one community foundation said they wait no more than five years to activate DAFs they deem to be dormant, with 97% of respondents saying they take action after three years. In cases where community foundations allow for longer waiting periods, it will usually be for a donor to grow the fund over a longer period to allow for the distribution of larger grants. (n=157)
Nearly all respondents said that their community foundation would attempt to contact a DAF holder to encourage them to activate their fund once the foundation considers the fund to be dormant. Follow-up steps vary but 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=181)
DAFs hosted by community foundation broadly and consistently maintain high distribution rates compared to other fund types. Nearly half of all community foundations in this sample reported DAF distribution rates in double digits, while roughly 20% reported double-digit distribution rates across all fund types. Large community foundations tend to maintain higher distribution rates as they also carry higher proportions of both DAFs and non-endowed funds than others. (n=366)
DAF flow rates are calculated as grants divided by gifts, indicating the proportion of grant dollars that went out in a given year relative to the gift dollars that came in that same year. Just over half of all reporting community foundations carried a flow rate higher than 100 percent, granting more dollars from their DAFs in 2024 than they brought in as gifts. (n=363)
DAFs remain a major driver of activity, holding 41% of reported assets, receiving 60% of fundraising dollars, and distributing 67% of grant dollars (n=359). Grantmaking from DAFs continues to grow over time, despite a second consecutive year of declines in fundraising.
Donor advised funds (DAFs) remain a significant driver of fund activity within the field, receiving 60% of all gift dollars and accounting for 67% of all grant dollars in FY24. DAFs at community foundations maintained their relatively high distribution rates and flow rates in FY24, even as DAF fundraising totals widely decreased for the second consecutive year.
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The median community foundation in this sample saw a 15% year-over-year increase in gifts received, with nearly 64% of all community foundations seeing gains over the previous year. Roughly one-third of the community foundations in this sample saw fundraising totals increase by more than 50% (a “dramatic increase” in the chart below) in FY24.
The table below shows long-term trends in total assets, gifts, and grants among the largest 100 community foundations in the country who together manage nearly 85% of the total assets within the broader sample. Among this group, assets grew by 10% and gifts jumped over 20% (the first increase in three years), while grants fell about 9% to roughly $14.8B due to significant decreases at a small number of community foundations. (n=100)