Largest Independent Donor Advised Fund Sets Record Growth in 2014
Hudson, Ohio (PRWEB) February 26, 2015 -- American Endowment Foundation (AEF), the country’s largest independent donor advised fund, reported that it granted $144 million to charities on behalf of its donors in 2014, an increase of 140% over the previous year. Donors provided over $400 million in new contributions to their donor advised funds at AEF, an increase of 168% over 2013.
A donor advised fund (DAF) is a charitable investment account sponsored by a public charity into which a donor is able to make an irrevocable contribution of assets (such as cash, publicly traded and closely-held securities, real estate, etc.) and then use those funds to recommend grants to qualified charities and nonprofit organizations that the donor desires to support.
Tom Tobin, Co-Founder of AEF, credits the rapid recent growth to several factors. “We are doing a better job of informing wealth advisors and financial institutions of the flexible and valuable role that DAFs play in the financial planning and charitable goals of their clients. Advisors are becoming increasingly aware of their role in managing their clients’ DAF assets at any amount on any platform. We now have 31% more funds in 2014 than 2013.”
“We are also noticing that the size of new donor advised funds has grown. As example, in 2014, we doubled the number of new funds that were opened with a starting balance of $1+ million. We had several donors open new funds in excess of $50+ million each.”
About American Endowment Foundation
American Endowment Foundation (AEF), a 501(c)3 charity founded in 1993, is the largest independent administrator of donor advised funds (DAFs) in the US. AEF’s mission is to expand the capacity of American philanthropy. As a neutral, independent platform, AEF focuses on serving the charitable interests of its individual donors.
Eric Kinaitis, American Endowment Foundation, http://www.aefonline.org, +1 (330) 655-7552, [email protected]
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