Fidelity Charitable and Schwab Charitable Report Strong Fiscal Year Results

Both Fidelity Charitable and Schwab Charitable reported continued strong growth in contributions from donors, and in grants from funds to charities.

At Schwab Charitable, assets under management grew 55 percent to $4.8 billion in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2013, compared to the previous year, while grants to charities grew 12 percent to $600 million. Schwab Charitable also doubled its new accounts.

At Fidelity Charitable, donors recommended over 214,000 grants totaling $919 million in the first six months of 2013, up 33 percent from the same period a year earlier, while contributions from donors’ charitable accounts grew 7 percent to $879 million.

New charitable accounts in the first six months of 2013 are up 43 percent from the first half of 2012.

Grants of $1 million or more to nonprofits grew 50 percent, helping to boost the average grant size to $4,285, up 10 percent from the first half of 2012.

Referring to the growing influence of financial advisors, Fidelity Charitable said: “Advisors continued to play a significant role in planned giving as their relationships with donors influenced the majority of contributions and new accounts. More than 70 percent of contributions made and more than 60 percent of new charitable accounts established in the first half can be attributed to an advisor referral.”