Vanguard charitable fund sees 15% increase in contribution in '09

The Vanguard charitable fund has seen a double-digit increase in contributions this year, while comparable funds at Fidelity and Schwab didn't fare as well. The Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program, from The Vanguard Group Inc., reported a 15% increase in contributions between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31, but grant dollars paid to charities were down 24% during the same time period. “Last fall, no one knew what was going to happen [with the markets],” said Benjamin Pierce, executive director of the program, which has $1.88 billion in assets under management. “People got paralyzed and just stopped acting.” Several large transactions in the past two months contributed to this year's increase in contributions, said James Barnes, the chief relationship manager for Vanguard. At the same time, the Schwab Charitable Fund, from The Charles Schwab Corp., saw a decline in contributions of 49% between Jan.1 and Aug. 31, compared with the first eight months of 2008, said Kim Wright-Violich, president of Schwab Charitable, the donor-advised fund program from The Charles Schwab Corp. The amount paid to charities declined by 7%. The Schwab Charitable Fund has $1.9 billion in assets under management. The Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, offered by Fidelity Investments, had a 25% decrease in contributions from Jan. 1 through Aug. 31, compared to the first eight months of 2008. Grants were down 10% for the period, said Sarah Libbey, president of the fund. The Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund has $3.9 billion in assets under management. Still, the majority of contributions to the funds come in the fourth quarter, the managers said.