Fidelity Charitable Donors Boost Giving by $1B Despite Market Tumble

Fidelity Charitable distributed more than $11 billion in donor-recommended grants in 2022, a new record that marks a surge in philanthropic giving even as the S&P 500 tumbled almost 20% last year.

A Boston-based independent public charity and the largest grantmaker in the U.S., Fidelity Charitable said Tuesday that last year’s $11.2 billion in grants amounted to a 9% increase — nearly $1 billion — over 2021’s then-record total of $10.3 billion. Donors recommended a record 2.2 million individual grants across nearly 190,000 charities at local, national and international levels, according to the nonprofit.

The Business Journal reported last summer that the nonprofit received almost $5 billion in giving over the first half of 2022, noting that the war in Ukraine drove more than $100 million in donor support. Unprecedented giving continued amid “inflation spikes, rising interest rates, market swings and layoffs across multiple sectors,” Fidelity Charitable said Tuesday.

“Despite volatile market conditions and economic unknowns, Fidelity Charitable donors stepped forward to bolster the critical work of nonprofits in our communities," said Fidelity Charitable President Jacob Pruitt. “The upward trend demonstrates how donor-advised funds make it possible for donors to maintain giving over time — even in moments of crisis or during market downturns when nonprofits are particularly vulnerable and need steady streams of revenue that they can count on.”