Top 25 U.S. charities

Any lingering doubts that donor-advised funds have come into their own have largely dissipated with the publication of The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s 2014 Philanthropy 400, which ranks the 400 charities that collect the most from private sources.

Four of the top 10 charities in 2013 raised money primarily from wealthy donors by offering donor-advised funds. In addition to the DAFs housed at Fidelity, Schwab and Vanguard, the fourth big charity relying on DAFs is the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF), to which Mark Zuckerberg donated Facebook stock worth $970 million in December 2013.

DAF providers surpassed the percentage gains achieved by name-brand nonprofit groups that largely look to middle-class donors, a trend that is reordering the top ranks of the nation’s nonprofits, The Chronicle reported.

In 2013, giving to the country’s biggest charities grew by 10.9 percent, The Chronicle reported, thanks in large part to the stock market’s 30 percent gain last year. This compared with a 4 percent rise in 2012.

The Chronicle said the increase in giving among the 330 or so charities that reported contributions in both 2012 and 2013 was 9.3 percent when adjusted for inflation.

This bodes well for the December giving season. Thirty-five charities in the survey that provided or estimated fundraising returns through year-end expected donations to rise by 6.9 percent, the report said.

In their effort to attract wealthy donors, colleges, hospitals, environmental groups and other organizations are hiring staff and devoting other resources into maintaining relationships with supporters, according to the report.

In return for outsize contributions, these donors expect to be kept informed, and many want a say in the nonprofit’s work.

The Chronicle said that even social service groups that in the past have depended on mass solicitations and modest contributions are aspiring to tap wealthier donors for support.

Not all charities are benefiting from donors’ largesse, according to the report. For example, the American Cancer Society, which ranked no. 7 in 2010, has dropped out of the top 10, its fundraising last year about the same as the previous year.

Other brand-name nonprofits are losing ground to competitors.

25. AmericaCares Foundation
State: Connecticut
Category: International
Total private support: $620.2 million
Percent change from FY’12: 18.2%
Total income: $621.9 million

24. National Philanthropic Trust
State: Pennsylvania
Category: Other
Total private support: $628.5 million
Percent change from FY’12: 127.3%
Total income: $670.3 million

23. Columbia University
State: New York
Category: Colleges and universities
Total private support: $646.7 million
Percent change from FY’12: 31.9%
Total income: N/A

22. Compassion International
State: Colorado
Category: International
Total private support: $656.9 million
Percent change from FY’12: 10.2%
Total income: $660 million

21. University of Southern California
State: California
Category: Colleges and universities
Total private support: $674.5 million
Percent change from FY’12: 37.1%
Total income: $4 billion

20. Lutheran Services in America
State: District of Columbia
Category: Social service
Total private support: $727.2 million
Percent change from FY’12: 35.4%
Total income: $21 billion

19. Boys & Girls Clubs of America
State: Georgia
Category: Youth
Total private support: $766.5 million
Percent change from FY’12: -29.1%
Total income: $1.7 billion

18. Harvard University
State: Massachusetts
Category: Colleges and universities
Total private support: $792.3 million
Percent change from FY’12: 21.8%
Total income: $5.8 billion

17. American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
State: Tennessee
Category: Hospitals and medical centers
Total private support: $851.3 million
Percent change from FY’12: 9.6%
Total income: $976 million

16. American Cancer Society
State: Georgia
Category: Health
Total private support: $885 million
Percent change from FY’12: -0.4%
Total income: N/A