Schwab Charitable Sets Another Grant Record in 2018

"Our extraordinary donors demonstrated that giving can flourish in a range of tax and market environments," Schwab Charitable's president, Kim Laughton, said in the statement.

"Under the new tax law, charitable giving is a relative bright spot for donors who itemize because the charitable deduction was preserved while several other popular deductions were capped or eliminated."

The Schwab Charitable report noted that 67% of contributions to donor accounts last year were in the form of noncash assets. It said that by contributing appreciated assets held for a year or more to a DAF, individuals could also potentially increase the amount available for charity by as much as 20%, as opposed to selling the assets and donating the proceeds.

Some donors also opted to concentrate their charitable contributions in 2018 by donating a few years of gifts to their DAFs. This is also known as a "bunching" strategy.

Schwab Charitable reached a new milestone in 2018. "Schwab Charitable was founded 20 years ago to make charitable giving more simple and tax-efficient for donors," Laughton said. "From the start, our mission has been to increase charitable giving in the United States."

Since inception, upward of $11 billion in grants have gone to more than 142,000 causes and charities.