Alexandria, VA — The DonorsTrust community of givers in 2022 recommended $242 million to more than 1,100 unique charities nationwide, supporting nonprofits during a year of economic uncertainty as inflation continued apace and the Federal Reserve tightened its monetary policy.
“The fact our accountholders granted more dollars than ever before is a reflection of our givers’ deep-seated belief in our mission and in the power of philanthropy—not government—to change people’s lives in a meaningful way,” says DonorsTrust CEO and President Lawson Bader.
The total grants to charities during 2022—$242 million—is a whopping 21% increase over the previous year, when DonorsTrust accountholders recommended granting $190 million to charity. The $190 million granted in 2021 was a 3% increase over 2020 when donors recommended $186 million.
When compared to pre-pandemic grant levels, these numbers are even more significant. DonorsTrust accountholders in 2019 recommended a total of $163 million, a 33% increase compared to 2022.
“Our donor-advisors’ record grant-making in 2022 is indicative of our ongoing growth as charitable givers continue to break ranks with the big banks and seek refuge with mission-driven giving-account providers that honor and share account-holders’ conservative and libertarian values.”
DonorsTrust welcomed many new accounts last year and, of those accounts, 13% migrated from a big commercial bank to DonorsTrust in a bid to align their giving. This continued the trend of givers aligning their philanthropy with a giving-account provider that honors their values.
Total Grant-Making in 2022 Nearly Eclipses Total Account Contributions
Another remarkable thing about 2022 is that total grant-making nearly eclipsed total account contributions. DonorsTrust account-holders in 2022 contributed $299 million to their respective accounts. Compare that to the $242 million that went out the door.
What’s more, all of that giving happened during a year in which the International Monetary Fund forecast half as much economic growth compared to the previous year and the annual inflation rate nearly doubled over the previous year, a hard reality that prompted one copywriter at The Economist to pen a headline that reads “2022 has been a year of brutal inflation.”
These numbers sent an important message to DonorsTrust givers: Give even more—and that’s exactly what account-holders did, deploying much-needed dollars out of nimble giving accounts filled with charitable reserves intended for critical charities during times of crisis.
DonorsTrust Givers Respond to Higher-Ed, ESG Crises
During a year in which America’s top 50 donors gave a staggering amount of money to higher education, DonorsTrust givers likewise granted a considerable amount to universities, including Catholic University of America and George Mason University Foundation.
DonorsTrust account-holders also directed a hefty amount of money to public-policy organizations like Consumers’ Research, an organization actively tracking anti-ESG legislation nationwide and putting corporations on notice for their liberal-leaning environmental agendas.
After the Wall Street Journal reported last year that investment firm BlackRock was gobbling up real estate on behalf of public-pension funds and others (all the while pricing individuals and families out of the real-estate market), Consumers’ Research came out swinging.
“It’s not so much that people are clamoring for Larry Fink and BlackRock to solve all the problems of the world; it’s that Larry would like to be in charge and he uses the immense amount of capital provided to him … to basically dictate terms to the rest of the American economy,” Will Hild, executive director of Consumers’ Research, says in an episode of Giving Ventures.
Established in 1999 as a 501(c)(3) public charity, DonorsTrust is a community of donors devoted to creating a better future. Its donors support charities they believe protect our nation’s constitutional liberties and strengthen civil society through private institutions rather than government programs. Its boutique size lets it offer our donors personal attention and advice that helps them achieve their philanthropic goals. It ensures donor intentions are protected and offers simple, effective, and tax-advantaged ways to give. Since its inception, DonorsTrust has granted more than $2.5 billion to thousands of charities that protect our constitutional liberties and strengthen civil society without government funding.
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To learn more about DAFs and DonorsTrust, please visit https://www.donorstrust.org and listen to the Giving Ventures Podcast here https://www.donorstrust.org/podcast/.
To schedule an interview with a DonorsTrust spokesperson, contact Carolyn Bolton at 703-535-3563 or cbolton@donorstrust.org.
