Fidelity Charitable, National Philanthropic Trust and Schwab Charitable, sponsors of donor-advised funds, recently reported robust grant making by their account holders over the past year.
Organizations focused on education, cancer research, human services and feeding the hungry were among the main recipients of grants recommended by donors.
Fidelity and NPT are celebrating significant anniversaries this year, and Fidelity is taking the occasion to spur grant-making activity.
National Philanthropic Trust
NPT, which celebrated its 20th anniversary on July 10, issued 26,168 donor-recommended grants totaling more than $626 million in mission-critical funding to charities in its fiscal year 2016, ended June 30.
These grants supported nearly 11,000 U.S. and international charities.
"Over the past fiscal year, our donors recommended grants that furthered pediatric cancer research, supported employment opportunities for our nation's veterans, built a no-kill animal shelter and improved access to clean water in developing countries," NPT's president and CEO, Eileen Heisman, said in a statement.
In the last 20 years, NPT reported, it has raised more than $6 billion in liquid and illiquid asset charitable contributions, and has made some 148,000 grants exceeding $3.6 billion to charities.
Schwab Charitable
Schwab Charitable reported $1.2 billion in grants by its donors to more than 56,000 charities in fiscal year 2016, ended June 30, a 12% increase over the previous fiscal year. This was the second consecutive year grants exceeded $1 billion, Schwab said in a statement.
The largest number of individual grants went to organizations focused on health and human services, religion and education.
More than $6.9 million also went to nonprofit groups such as Doctors Without Borders, International Rescue Committee and Save the Children Foundation whose work included assisting Syrian war refugees with medical care, temporary shelter, food, clothing and other much-needed resources.
To make it easier for donors to support global crises and other international causes, Schwab Charitable in fiscal year 2016 began offering personalized guidance from professionals with experience in international granting.
