BNY preps new version of Dreyfus charitable fund: ‘Clients can do well and do good’

BNY is planning to launch a retail version of the SPARK charitable share class of its money market fund, according to Stephanie Pierce, deputy head of BNY Investments, opening up more opportunities for clients to support charities.

Launched in 2023, SPARK Shares (Ticker: SPKXX) are a dedicated share class of BNY’s Dreyfus Government Cash money market fund that lets clients choose a charity to donate 10% of net revenue. The donation is based on an amount representing 10% of BNY Investment Adviser’s net revenue attributable to the fund's SPARK shares. 

“The SPARK shares actually allows the client to pick the charity and we give 10% of our net revenue on their average balance to the charity of their choosing,” Pierce told InvestmentNews. “We launched that a few years ago for institutional clients and we have just filed for a retail version that we’re going to call SPARK Future.”

Pierce, who is responsible for the BNY Dreyfus money market business, the BNY Investments index business, and BNY Advisors, said that the company plans to launch SPARK Future around the time of the company’s INSITE Conference in June.

“This will allow our advisors’ clients to have that same opportunity to really customize the cash, and the way we like to think about it is clients can do well and do good at the same time,” she said. “So this allows them to have an impact with their liquidity, beyond just what they are delivering for their portfolio in terms of yield and safety, and soundness.”

“And these share classes are all launched off of our biggest flagship money fund, so it’s $130 billion, very liquid, very well-established institutional quality money fund,” Pierce added. “The client isn’t sacrificing any yield, any liquidity, this all comes out of our pocket, not theirs.”

Charitable giving is an increasingly important part of the wealth management landscape. Last year Julie Sunwoo, president of DAFgiving360, told InvestmentNews that, in the wake of 2025’s bull market, people are more inclined to be generous. Sunwoo also cited charitable giving as a point from which to launch meaningful discussions between advisors and clients.

Donor-advised funds have also been highlighted as big winners in a busy period for philanthropic planning.

Americans are clearly willing to open up their hearts and their wallets. Last year a survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults by the Harris Poll on behalf of Vanguard Charitable found that Americans are increasing their charitable contributions.