Give Like You Invest – A Compact Life

“No one has ever become poor by giving.” — Anne Frank

I came across Vanguard Charitable’s 2024 Why Giving Matters report while looking for a better way to organize our family’s charitable giving. I expected a technical discussion about donor-advised funds. Instead, the report was about behavior: what people do when a cause is already part of their plan, what they do when a new need appears, and whether one type of giving reduces the other.

That last question caught my attention.

We already understand planned giving. We support a church, school, community organization, scholarship, or cause that has earned a place in our lives. Unexpected giving is different. It may follow a hurricane, war, medical crisis, local emergency, or an organization we discover through personal experience.

The natural assumption is that an unexpected gift must come out of the money intended for our regular charities. Vanguard Charitable’s research suggests that, among the donors it studied, that was often not what happened.

The Two Sides of Giving

Vanguard Charitable analyzed more than a decade of activity from over 32,000 donor-advised fund accounts and paired that data with donor survey responses.

Expected giving supports familiar causes and recurring commitments. Unexpected giving responds to a new event, new information, a personal connection, or a nonprofit the donor only recently discovered.

The two forms serve different purposes. Expected support helps organizations continue their everyday work. Unexpected support gives them additional capacity when a need suddenly grows.

What the Numbers Show

Donors who made unexpected grants gave 39% more overall than donors who made only expected grants. Their expected, ongoing giving was also 24% higher.

More than three-quarters of surveyed responsive donors said the unexpected grant increased their total giving rather than replacing something already planned. Forty-six percent of nonprofits receiving an unexpected grant later received another grant from the same donor, and more than 72% of responsive donors identified at least two types of events that had inspired them to give.

Over the ten years studied, expected giving grew at an average annual rate of 17%, while unexpected giving grew at 24%.

The study covers Vanguard Charitable account holders, not every American household, and it shows an association rather than proving that one gift causes greater generosity. Still, the pattern is useful: for many donors, a new need did not rearrange the same charitable dollars. It widened their giving.

What Has Happened Since the Report

The 2024 study used data through 2023. Newer results do not repeat the same analysis, but they show the broader pattern continuing.

In 2025, Vanguard Charitable donors granted $3.9 billion to nearly 67,000 nonprofits, the organization’s ninth consecutive record year. Human services led the cause areas by number of grants, followed by religion, education, health, and environment and wildlife. Doctors Without Borders received the most grants, with World Central Kitchen second.

During the 2025 federal government shutdown, donors sent $19 million to more than 750 food banks and free-food programs in roughly six weeks. Planned giving also became more systematic: about 4,700 donors used recurring grants, representing 17% of grant recommendations, while education nonprofits received $961 million.

Those numbers do not prove the 2024 findings all over again. They do reinforce the practical lesson: donors can maintain long-term commitments and still respond quickly when circumstances change. Doctors Without Borders at the top, with religion and education among the leading causes, also tells us that the plan we are building is in familiar company.

Vanguard Charitable’s 2026 edition moves from behavior to strategy, encouraging donors to approach charitable capital with the same discipline and foresight they bring to retirement planning. Its giving-impact calculator can model how contributions, grants, time, and assumed investment returns may affect future charitable capacity.

Why Nonprofits Need Both

Expected giving helps an organization fund staff, programs, supplies, research, education, outreach, and readiness. Unexpected giving becomes especially important when demand rises faster than the normal budget can handle.

Vanguard Charitable uses World Central Kitchen as an example. Ongoing support sustains operations; crisis-driven support helps it scale after disasters and humanitarian emergencies.

I do not want us to choose between loyalty to the organizations that matter to us and the ability to respond to a legitimate new need. I want room for both.

The Giving Plan We Are Building

We are starting with a simple 85/15 structure. It is our implementation of the report’s planned-versus-responsive framework, not a Vanguard recommendation.

Eighty-five percent will support core giving. Doctors Without Borders is the first recurring organization in that group. Our church, the IEEE Foundation, LSU, and Ole Miss are the next areas we are evaluating for consistent support.

Fifteen percent will remain flexible. It can respond to a qualified disaster-relief organization, humanitarian emergency, local crisis, or nonprofit we discover during the year. Any unused balance can roll into core giving in December.

We will maintain a separate cash line outside the DAF for school, dance, sports, and other fundraisers where we receive tickets, raffle entries, meals, merchandise, or another personal benefit. A DAF cannot pay for those items.

Church and Community

Our church and local organizations are closest to the needs around us. Consistent support can help maintain ministry, outreach, community programs, and assistance to families without depending on a crisis or year-end reminder.

Education Through LSU and Ole Miss

LSU is part of my story, so I am exploring gifts through the LSU Foundation, LSU’s primary fundraising organization for academics. Support can be directed to scholarships, colleges, programs, research, internships, or another designated priority.

Although ours is a house divided, Leslie feels the same way about Ole Miss. Gifts are received and managed by the University of Mississippi Foundation, and Ole Miss lists donor-advised funds as one way to give. For both schools, the important decision is what we want the money to accomplish and which fund should receive it.

Engineering and Technology Through IEEE

IEEE has played an important role in my professional life. The IEEE Foundation supports scholarships, fellowships, educational access, humanitarian technology, awards, and programs for future engineers and technologists. It accepts DAF gifts and allows donors to designate specific programs.

What a Donor-Advised Fund Actually Does

A donor-advised fund, or DAF, is a charitable account maintained by a sponsoring public charity. A donor contributes assets, recommends how the charitable balance is invested, and later recommends grants to eligible nonprofits.

That separation is useful: we can commit assets to charity when it fits our broader planning, then take time to research the eventual recipients.

The essential rule is that the contribution is irrevocable. The sponsoring charity legally controls the assets. The donor retains advisory privileges, but the money cannot return to personal use. Assets may be invested for potential tax-free growth, and a later grant does not create a second charitable deduction.

What a DAF Can and Cannot Pay For

A DAF can generally grant to eligible public charities, religious organizations, and qualified educational foundations. It cannot provide a personal benefit or satisfy a legally binding obligation.

That means a church general fund, the IEEE Foundation, the LSU Foundation, the University of Mississippi Foundation, Doctors Without Borders, or a vetted disaster-relief charity may be eligible. IEEE membership dues, game tickets, raffles, fundraiser dinners, and binding pledges are not appropriate DAF expenses.

How Easy Is It to Open One?

Vanguard Charitable says its online process can take as little as 15 minutes. The donor provides account information, names any advisors, selects a succession plan, agrees to the terms, and funds the account.

As of October 2026, the main requirements are:

$25,000 to open an account.
$5,000 for an additional contribution.
$500 for a grant recommendation.
At least one $500 grant every three years to remain active.

The administrative fee begins at 0.60% on the first $500,000, with investment expenses in addition. A $250 maintenance fee may apply when the account is below $25,000 at the annual assessment, subject to stated exceptions.

Vanguard Charitable accepts cash, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and certain complex assets. Once funded, a donor can search for a charity, recommend a grant, and track its status while the sponsor reviews eligibility.

Those minimums will not fit every household. Other sponsors may have different terms, and direct recurring donations remain a perfectly valid alternative. The account is a tool. The starting point is deciding what we want our giving to do.

The 2026 Tax Fine Print

Beginning in 2026, taxpayers who do not itemize may deduct up to $1,000 for single filers or $2,000 for married couples filing jointly for qualifying cash gifts made directly to certain eligible charities. DAF contributions generally do not qualify for that non-itemizer deduction.

For itemizers, a new 0.5%-of-adjusted-gross-income floor generally means only charitable contributions above that threshold are deductible. Cash gifts and appreciated assets remain subject to their own percentage limits and documentation rules. Donating appreciated stock held for more than a year can potentially avoid donor-level capital-gains realization and may provide a fair-market-value deduction, depending on the facts.

Income, filing status, basis, holding period, limits, and substantiation can change the result. We will review the plan with a tax professional before making a final decision.

A Simple Way to Begin

Someone does not need $25,000 to apply the report’s central lesson.

Name the causes that already matter. Choose a few areas you want to support consistently.
Set a realistic annual amount. Make it work alongside the rest of the household plan.
Preserve room to respond. Keep part of the budget available for needs you cannot identify in advance.
Choose the right method and recipient. Compare direct giving with DAF providers, then confirm the organization’s legal name, status, and intended fund.

For us, that means using the correct LSU Foundation fund, the University of Mississippi Foundation designation, the right IEEE Foundation program, and the church’s proper legal recipient information.

Why Giving Matters to Us

The most useful lesson I took from Vanguard Charitable’s report is not that every family needs a DAF. It is that consistency and flexibility can coexist.

We can support Doctors Without Borders, our church, and our community year after year. We can help create educational opportunity through LSU and Ole Miss. We can support engineering, technology, and future professionals through the IEEE Foundation. And we can remain prepared to act when a need appears that we could not have scheduled.

That is the giving plan we are building.

A DAF may help organize it, but the account is not the purpose. The purpose is to make our giving deliberate, informed, and easier to carry forward.

The first gift can meet the need in front of us. The next one can turn that moment into a relationship.

That is why giving matters.