Annual DAF Report 2025
We’re pleased to publish the inaugural edition of the Annual DAF Report produced by the Donor Advised Fund Research Collaborative (DAFRC).
For nearly two decades, the National Philanthropic Trust compiled and published data on donor advised funds (DAFs), creating a foundational source of data for the nonprofit sector. Starting with this 2025 edition, the Annual DAF Report will be independently produced by the DAFRC.
This report draws on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 990, Schedule D data for fiscal year (FY) 2024 to provide aggregate data on the number of DAF accounts, contributions to DAFs, grants from DAFs, DAF assets, payout rate, and average account size.
Expect to see an update on the report by the end of Q1 2026, incorporating data from additional identified DAF sponsors as well as newly released Form 990 data.
Executive Summary
Donor advised funds (DAFs) are charitable giving accounts used by individuals (donor advisors) and managed by 501(c)(3) public charity sponsoring organizations (DAF sponsors). Donor advisors receive an immediate tax deduction for their contributions to the DAF and recommend grants to charities over time from the assets in the DAF. As DAFs grow in prevalence within the philanthropic landscape, accurate, neutral, and accessible information is critical to understanding their impact. This report provides a reliable reference for the size, scope, and charitable activity of DAFs.
DAFs are sponsored by a wide range of nonprofit organizations. This report includes an analysis of 1,485 DAF sponsors based in the United States (US) for fiscal year (FY) 2024, including 99 national sponsors, 788 community foundations, and 598 single-issue charities. The report separates standard national sponsors from donation processors, a category of national sponsors that facilitate workplace giving and mass-scale online donations, so the trends in DAFs can be more easily interpreted. The report also divides single-issue charities into three categories: religiously-affiliated, higher education and healthcare, and other.
DAFs grew significantly in 2024. The total number of DAF accounts reached a record high of 3.56 million, driven primarily by an increase in accounts at donation processors. The number of non-donation processor accounts also continues to increase, though the rate of growth has begun to slow. Total assets in DAFs grew 27.5%, reaching $326.45 billion. Contributions to DAFs rebounded strongly, increasing 37.3% and totaling $89.64 billion, following a decline in FY 2023. Grantmaking from DAFs continued to rise, with a 19.0% increase, reaching $64.89 billion. The overall payout rate from DAFs remained fairly consistent with the prior year, increasing by 1.3 percentage points to 25.3%. The average account size also increased 7.8% to $91,611.
This report includes analysis of 1,485 DAF sponsors:
99
national sponsors
788
community foundations
598
single-issue charities
Key Findings
1,485 DAF sponsors managed 3.56 million DAF accounts in FY 2024.
Total Number of DAF Accounts
Contributions to DAFs increased to $89.64 billion in FY 2024.
Total Value of Contributions to DAFs ($ in billions)
Grants from DAFs increased to $64.89 billion in FY 2024.
Total Value of Grants from DAFs ($ in billions)
Total DAF assets increased to $326.45 billion in FY 2024.
Total Assets in DAFs ($ in billions)
View the Full Report
Access the full report for more insights about DAFs, including detailed trends on contributions, grants, and assets, analyses broken down by sponsor type, and more.
Suggested citation: Heist, H. D., Vance-McMullen, D., Williams, J., Shaker, G. G., & Sumsion, R. M. (2025). The annual DAF report 2025. Donor Advised Fund Research Collaborative. https://doi.org/10.4087/XUGU3656
The DAFRC has partnered with GivingTuesday to create a data mart that will host regularly updated data on vetted DAF sponsors going forward. The data mart will be available in January 2026.