Schwab cuts minimum on charitable accounts

Schwab Charitable Fund of San Francisco announced today that it has reduced the minimum donation to open a charitable gift account from $10,000 to $5,000. The fund is one of the country’s largest donor-advised funds, in which the investor can take a tax deduction on the investment and choose later which charities will receive grants from the fund. Since its inception in 1999, more than $870 million in charitable grants have been given to more than 35,000 charitable organizations. The fund’s distributions have averaged more than 20 % of assets annually over the last three years. Its assets grew more than 70% from FY 2006 to FY 2007. Donor advised funds are the fastest growing vehicle for giving, with a 7% increase in new accounts and 23.4% increase in assets from 2005 to 2006 according to the National Philanthropic Trust, an independent public charity which promotes philanthropy, based in Jenkintown, Pa.