Where Donor-Advised Fund Money Actually Goes

Not a curated list — a record. Every organization here received grants from American donor-advised fund sponsors between 2019 and 2024, drawn straight from IRS Form 990 filings.

Charities funded
332,900
received DAF grants
Total granted
$263.41B
2019–2024
Shown here
2,500
largest recipients
Their share
59%
of all DAF grant dollars
Classified by cause
81%
of grant dollars

This page ranks by dollars received, not by merit. A large number here means donors with donor-advised funds sent an organization a lot of money — it is not a rating, a recommendation, or a judgement about how well that money was used. Universities and hospitals dominate the top of the list because that is genuinely where much DAF money goes. Use this to see the landscape and to check an organization you are already considering, then do your own diligence.

Search the 2,500 largest recipients

Together these received 59% of all DAF grant dollars across 2019–2024. Sort any column.

Organization Cause DAF grants received Sponsors Years funded

What the columns mean. DAF grants received is the total reported by all DAF sponsors that listed this organization on Schedule I of their Form 990 between 2019 and 2024. Sponsors is how many separate DAF sponsors granted to it — a high number means support is broad rather than coming from one donor. Years funded shows consistency.

Cause comes from the organization’s NTEE code in the IRS Business Master File. The IRS never assigned one to many smaller organizations, so roughly one in five grant dollars is unclassified — those are filterable as “No IRS cause code” rather than hidden. Names, cities and states are the IRS’s own records where available, not as typed by the filing sponsor. Deductible means the organization appears in IRS Publication 78. No IRS master-file record is a factual note, not a warning: state universities and other governmental units are exempt under §170(c)(1) and churches under §508(c)(1)(A) without ever applying, so many never appear in the Business Master File at all. Among the largest recipients carrying this note, most are public universities. It can also mean an organization has merged or dissolved, or that the EIN was mistyped on the filing — so check it rather than assume either way.

Only grants above $5,000 must be itemized, so smaller gifts are invisible here. Recent years are incomplete: it can take two to three years for returns to be released and processed, so totals for 2024 understate reality. Organizations marked runs a DAF program operate donor-advised funds themselves, so money reaching them may not yet have arrived at a working charity.

Want the other side of this? The DAF Sponsor Index covers all 3,078 sponsors, with assets, grants and payout rates.

Full methodology, sources and disclosures. Source: IRS Form 990 Schedule I, tax years 2019–2024, via the National Center for Charitable Statistics parsed e-file tables. Organization names appear as filed. Nothing on this page is a rating, endorsement, or recommendation.

How to Evaluate a Charity

Beyond the website, here's what to look for

📊 Impact Metrics

Look for organizations with clear, measurable outcomes. What are they trying to accomplish? How do they measure success? Are results transparent and independent-verified?

💰 Financial Health

Check their Form 990 (public tax filing). Is the organization sustainable? What percentage goes to programs vs. overhead? Do they have a reasonable reserve?

🔍 Transparency & Governance

Who leads the organization? Is there strong governance? How do they communicate with donors? Do they publish annual reports and impact data?

🤝 Community & Expertise

Do they work with communities and experts? Is the board diverse? Do they listen to feedback? Are they part of networks addressing the cause?

Read Our Full Charity Evaluation Guide →

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