Since 1991, Fidelity Charitable has made more than $14 billion in grants to some 160,000 nonprofit organizations recommended by account holders in its national donor-advised fund program.
On Monday, the organization issued a report detailing the demographics and giving patterns of some 94,000 individuals who advise on DAFs at Fidelity.
At present, Fidelity's DAF program has 57,774 giving accounts, many of which have more than one individual with advisory privileges. Donors come from all 50 states, and range in age from 20 to 100.
The average primary account holder is 62 years old and sets up an account at age 54. Forty percent of donors have maintained a giving account for more than a decade, and 13% have had an account at least 15 years.
In 2012, donors recommended grants totaling $1.6 billion across all charitable sectors. The number of grants per giving account averaged about seven. The average grant size was $3,773, though more than $900 million was granted in amounts of $50,000 or more.
Over the past decade, the total volume of grants grew each year, rising from 154,000 in 2003 to 429,000 in 2012. This was true during the worst years of the financial crisis (2008–2009), with more than $1 billion granted out each year.
Fidelity said in a statement that the consistent number of outgoing grants through the financial crisis demonstrated that donors used their accounts as a "ready reserve" of funds to maintain their charitable impact during challenging economic times.
