Vanguard Charitable announces ninth straight year of record granting with donor grants exceeding $3.9 billion in 2025

Grants issued during the last two months of 2025 approached $1 billion, marking a 130% increase over the last five years and underscoring continued donor momentum

MALVERN, Pa., March 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Vanguard Charitable, a leading nonprofit and sponsor of donor-advised funds (DAFs), today announced its donors granted $3.9 billion to nearly 67,000 nonprofits in 2025. This marks the grantmaker's ninth straight year of record giving and reflects a 27% increase in giving from 2024.

More than a quarter of granting occurred from November 1 to December 31, a period often referred to as Giving Season. During this time, donors granted nearly $1 billion ($953 million), marking a 130% increase over five years.

"2025 was a record year for Vanguard Charitable and a powerful reflection of our donors' generosity and steadfast commitment to philanthropy," said Rebecca Moffett, president of Vanguard Charitable. "What continues to inspire me most is how purposefully our donors act, whether responding to urgent community needs or providing ongoing support to causes close to their hearts. Leveraging a donor-advised fund as a flexible, strategic giving tool allows donors to respond to evolving needs, plan thoughtfully, and maximize their impact over time."

2025 by the numbers:

Vanguard Charitable donors gave to a range of nonprofits, with the top five supported cause areas being human services (72K), religion (54K), education (38K), health (33K), and environment and wildlife (20K).

The five nonprofits Vanguard Charitable donors supported most by number of grants were:

1. Doctors Without Borders
2. World Central Kitchen
3. American Civil Liberties Union Foundation
4. Planned Parenthood Federation of America
5. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Meeting urgent needs through flexible giving

Amid the 2025 extended government shutdown, Vanguard Charitable donors leveraged the power and flexibility of their DAFs by responding quickly to rising food insecurity across the country. From October 1 to November 13, $19 million was granted to more than 750 free food programs and food banks, with the average grant size being $5,721. Across the full 2025 calendar year, donors granted more than $61 million to food banks and food programs, a 36% increase from 2024.

In addition to that, half of all grants issued last year were unrestricted, accounting for $2 billion, an approach that allows charities to direct funds where they're most needed.

For more information about Vanguard Charitable or giving with a DAF, please visit www.vanguardcharitable.org.

About Vanguard Charitable
Vanguard Charitable is a leading U.S. nonprofit organization that fulfills its mission to increase philanthropic giving by administering a donor-advised fund—a tax-effective way to consolidate, accrue, and grant assets to charity. Since it was founded by Vanguard¹ in 1997 as an independent 501(c)(3) organization, Vanguard Charitable has granted more than $24 billion to charity. More information is available at www.vanguardcharitable.org.

¹Although Vanguard provides certain investment management and administrative services to Vanguard Charitable pursuant to a service agreement, Vanguard Charitable is not a program or activity of Vanguard. A majority of Vanguard Charitable' s trustees are independent of Vanguard.

SOURCE Vanguard Charitable