The market for donor-advised funds is estimated to be more than $52 billion according to the National Philanthropic Trust and Janney Montgomery Scott wants a piece of it.
The firm has joined with Ren, philanthropic and charity giving specialists, to launch the Janney Charitable Giving Fund for the firm’s financial advisors and their clients. The in-house DAF program links directly to administrative and financial advisory workflows through Janney’s SMART advisor operations technology.
“The Janney Charitable Giving Fund seamlessly integrates with our platform, making it easier for our advisors to offer tailored advice and highlight the benefits of a donor-advised fund to our clients. The solution reflects our commitment to delivering innovative wealth management solutions that meet the evolving needs of its clients by giving advisors and their clients more control over their investment options in their DAFs.” said Zane Byramji, the firm’s head of investment company products.
The new fund empowers advisors to manage a client’s philanthropic goals within an advisory relationship, fully integrated with their other investments and financial plans. They can manage investments and guide client charitable donations to their preferred nonprofits and know that clients’ contributions are safely custodied at Janney.
The tech integration makes for a streamlined account opening and management experience without the need for registration with a DAF sponsor via a third-party website. Clients and FAs can access Janney’s online client portal.
"We are beyond excited to count Janney as a new partner to deliver a cutting-edge solution that not only integrates with its existing technology but empowers its advisors to offer enhanced philanthropic options to their clients," said Joseph Fisher, CEO at Ren.
The DAF market has seen exponential growth recently with the inaugural DAF Fundraising Report conducted by Chariot and K2D Strategies revealing a 96% rise in annual giving among donors who transitioned to DAFs, emphasizing the growing importance of these funds in nonprofit fundraising.
The wider philanthropic giving environment continues to grow too with Fidelity Charitable reporting earlier this year that its donors recommended a record $11.8 billion in grants, which represents a fourfold increase in its impact over the past decade.
Young Americans are keen to make their money work for others as well as for themselves, as highlighted in a report from Foundation Source that polled around 1000 Gen Zs and Millennials about their charitable giving and found that most had made a financial donation in the past year. This includes 87% of Millennials (average income $98K) and 71% of Gen Zs (average income $59K).
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