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Contributors to donor-advised funds (DAFs) managed by Vanguard Charitable allocated more than $3.5 billion during fiscal year 2025, which ran from July 2024 through June 2025. That amount represents a 14% jump from the previous fiscal year.
During the 12 months ending on June 30, 2025, donors made almost 248,000 grants, with amounts averaging around $14,000, a 2.5% uptick from the previous year. In all, 62,950 nonprofits benefitted from donors’ largesse, with human services, religion, education, health and environment causes being the primary beneficiaries.
Doctors Without Borders, World Central Kitchen and Samaritan’s Purse were the top three fund grant recipients when ranked the number of individual gifts each cause received during the fiscal year.
The pace of giving increased during the first six months of 2025. During that time, Vanguard Charitable DAF donors allocated 30% more than they did during the first half of calendar 2024, spurred in part due to disasters in California and Texas.
Within the grants made during the full fiscal year 2025, donors released nearly 13,000 grants to 1,800 nonprofits specifically for disaster relief. The aggregate amount issued for this cause was $110 million. Within that, $11.2 was issued specifically for hurricane relief and another $10 million was allocated in response to wildfires.
Separately, donors are heeding the calls for unrestricted funds. More than half (51.7%) of dollars granted during the most recent fiscal year were given without limitations or designations regarding their use, up from 48.3% during fiscal year 2024.
“Our donors continue to demonstrate that generosity doesn’t pause during times of uncertainty, it grows,” Rebecca Moffett, president of Vanguard Charitable, said in a statement. “In fact, this growth is not just in dollars granted; it’s in the number of organizations reached and the diversity of causes supported. It’s proof that donor-advised funds enable donors to respond quickly to urgent needs without sacrificing their long-term philanthropic commitments. We are committed to supporting our donors in strengthening their philanthropic strategies for even greater near-term and long-term impact in months and years ahead.”
Since Vanguard Charitable was established in 1997, participants have released more than $22 billion, in aggregate, to nonprofits.
