Giving Account overview

The quickest way to send us your forms is via fax to 877-665-4274. You also have the option to mail them using one of the following addresses:

Overnight Address:
Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund
100 Crosby Parkway
Covington, KY 41015-9325

General Mail Address:
Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund & PIF
PO Box 770001
Cincinnati, OH 45277-0053

To open a Fidelity Charitable Giving Account, click here to get started. You may also complete a Donor Application and submit it to Fidelity Charitable. There is no minimum contribution required to open a Giving Account, and the process is quick and easy.

To open a Giving Account for your company or organization, download the Organizational Giving Account application. You can learn more about the Corporate Giving Account including required minimums here.

Overnight Address:
Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund
100 Crosby Parkway

General Mail Address:
Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund & PIF
PO Box 770001
Cincinnati, OH 45277-0053

Yes, if you already have a financial advisor, he or she can help you take full advantage of your donor-advised fund. Check out our Working with your financial advisor page to find the resources you need to get started.

You do not have to maintain a minimum balance in your Giving Account, but adequate funding is required to recommend and issue approved grants.

The Fidelity Charitable Trustees have set a minimum grant amount of $50 to maintain cost-effectiveness and encourage charitable giving.

Typically, there are two types of fees for the Giving Account - an annual administrative fee and investment fees. The administrative fee is based on your Giving Account balance and covers our costs, like processing transactions and providing donor support. The investment fees are mutual fund fees determined by how your contribution is invested. To learn more about the fees and to see what they could mean for you visit the What it Costs page.

There is an additional $10,000 administrative fee for the Corporate Giving Account, assessed annually. Additional fees may apply for certain programs. Learn more about the Corporate Giving Account here.

Yes, a grant recommendation is a great way to honor or memorialize someone. When submitting your grant recommendation, select "In memory of" or "In honor of" from the drop-down menu in the "Use" field. From here, you will be able to add a special note with the information of the individual you are honoring or memorializing.

Yes, you can generally support these sorts of fundraising efforts. Please note that Account Holders cannot support their own fundraising commitments when there is a legally enforceable financial obligation. When submitting your grant recommendation, select "race, run, walk" from the "Use" field and enter the racer’s name and other relevant information such as race name and number. To help expedite processing, you may further specify in the designation that "the grant is not connected to a legally enforceable pledge or financial obligation."

You may recommend a grant for general support/recognition for the event; however, grants intended to pay any portion of the cost of attendance to a charitable event(s) cannot be made from your Giving Account. This includes bifurcated or “split” gifts* where a donor pays for the non-tax-deductible portion of the admission fee out of pocket, and then recommends the tax-deductible portion from their Giving Account. The full admission fee the charity requires you to pay in connection to your attendance at the event, including the tax deductible and non-tax-deductible portions, must be paid out of pocket and separate from any Fidelity Charitable grants. If you have paid the full admission fee to attend and intend to recommend a grant above and beyond that amount for which you will be receiving no goods or service, please indicate this to Fidelity Charitable when recommending your grant by selecting the "Create your own" option in the "Use" field and adding "the full minimum cost to attend has already been paid for outside of the DAF," in addition to any other specifics you would like to include. If you are not attending the event at all, please indicate this by selecting "charity event - not attending" in the "Use" field.

*For more information regarding bifurcated payments for tickets or event attendance from donor-advised funds, see IRS Notice 2017-73.

Here's an example:
Rebecca would like to attend the Annual Gala at her favorite charity. The charity offers individual tickets priced at $500 ($250 tax-deductible) or a Patron Sponsorship for $10,000 that comes with 10 tickets for seats at a premium table ($7,500 tax-deductible). Rebecca would like to use all 10 seats so her friends and family can attend the gala with her. For Rebecca to be within Fidelity Charitable policy, she would have to pay the full minimum ticket price of $500 for each attendee, totaling $5,000.

She may recommend a grant for the remaining $5,000 from her Fidelity Charitable Giving Account as long as this amount is considered fully tax-deductible with no goods or services being provided in connection to the grant. When recommending the grant, Rebecca can make Fidelity Charitable aware of this by selecting the "Create your own" option in the "Use" field and adding "the full minimum cost to attend has already been paid for outside of the DAF," in addition to the other event details she included.

You may not use your Fidelity Charitable Giving Account for lobbying, for political contributions, or to support political campaign activities.

Grant recommendations can be made in support of non-legally binding pledges. Accordingly, you may tell charities that you "intend to recommend a grant from your donor-advised fund in the amount of [$]" so they know your grant recommendation is being made in response to a charitable organization’s request for a commitment.

When submitting a grant recommendation online, once you confirm that the charity does not consider your pledge to be legally binding, select “Pledge (non-binding)” from the grant use menu.

Read this article for more information:
Can I make a pledge with a donor-advised fund?

A grant cannot be recommended for the tuition payment of a specific individual(s) chosen by the donor(s) or related third party. This includes, but is not limited to, grants for school tuition and other required fees, such as enrollment fees and deposits, fundraising obligations where the school considers the payment a non-deductible tuition payment.

You may, however, recommend a grant for the purpose of supporting a scholarship program established at and administered by a qualified public charity, so long as the recipient of the scholarship is not related to the recommending donor and does not satisfy a financial obligation of the recommending donor(s) or related third parties.

You may recommend a grant for this purpose if the organization confirms that its membership fee is 100% tax-deductible and that membership benefits are not more than incidental. If this is true, please indicate in the "Use" field that the membership level does not provide you with more than incidental benefits by selecting "Membership" from the drop-down menu when submitting your grant recommendation.

Benefits in connection with athletic funds (such as when the Account Holder receives benefits like the right to purchase tickets to sporting events) are prohibited. The full price required to receive these benefits must be paid out of pocket and separate from any Fidelity Charitable grants.

No. Fidelity Charitable cannot make grants that would provide a more than incidental benefit to the recommending donor or any third parties. This generally includes online individual fundraising efforts like GoFundMe.com.

No. Fidelity Charitable makes grants only to IRS-qualified public charities, and grant recommendations cannot provide any impermissible private benefit to the recommending donor or any third parties.

Grants must be recommended exclusively for charitable purposes with no more than incidental benefits to an Account Holder or related third party. A "more than incidental" benefit generally includes items with financial value, such as includes tickets to attend an event, raffle tickets, auction items, or the provision of any other goods or services. Certain items of minimal value are considered an "incidental benefit" such as logo-bearing keychains, coffee mugs, or calendars.

Fidelity Charitable can generally make grants only to public charities, private operating foundations and government units. Fidelity Charitable does not make grants to certain types of supporting organizations, private non-operating foundations, government instrumentalities, or testing for public safety organizations. An IRS-qualified public charity is a charitable organization that has successfully filed an exemption application with the IRS for its public charity status, or certain other organizations that the IRS considers to be "public charities" without filing, such as many religious organizations and educational institutions. Public charities include most organizations you might consider a charity, from national relief organizations, to your alma mater, to your local arts council.

Fidelity Charitable maintains a database of public charities that includes the most up-to-date information from the IRS. However, public charity status does not guarantee that a grant recommendation will be approved to any particular organization. Under policies set by the Fidelity Charitable Trustees, Fidelity Charitable conducts a robust review of each grant recommendation to ensure grants are made to IRS-qualified public charities, that those public charities use those granted funds solely for proper charitable purposes, and that grants do not confer impermissible benefits on donors or on any other person. Fidelity Charitable reserves the right to perform additional due diligence and to decline to make a recommended grant to a charitable organization.

A grant can still be recommended to such an organization but will require additional research to ensure its qualification status. Including a contact name and phone number for the charity if you have one could help expedite the research process.

You have two options for using your Giving Account to support causes outside the U.S. You can recommend a grant to an American charity that works overseas, or you can recommend a grant to an American intermediary charity that will, subject to eligibility for grants within the American intermediary’s grant diligence process, make a grant to your preferred organization for an additional fee. We have identified a number of intermediary charities that specialize in various regions of the world, and they can help you support the causes you care about.

To learn more about our foreign charities options, visit our Charities you can support page.

Nonprofits often want to thank you for the recommended grant and engage with you to further support their mission. We encourage donors to provide their name and address to nonprofits with each grant they recommend.

Each time you recommend a grant, you will be automatically defaulted to this full acknowledgement option; however, you may also choose to grant partially anonymously or fully anonymously. The option you choose, subject to Fidelity Charitable Trustee approval, will be sent with the grant via check or electronic funds transfer.

See below for an example of each acknowledgement option:
Full acknowledgement - includes name, address, and Giving Account name (see example)
Partial acknowledgement - Giving Account name only (see example)
Anonymous - no donor or Giving Account information provided (see example)

While the account default is full acknowledgement, all three acknowledgement options are generally available to choose from at the time of recommendation for each grant. You can call us to elect another acknowledgement option as the default.

The Giving Account lets you support 501(c)(3) public charities. That generally should include all the charities you support today, with only a few exceptions, such as private foundations. Our online process makes giving easy. The minimum grant recommendation is just $50, and you can support as many charities as you like—with more flexibility and better bookkeeping than ever.

An IRS-qualified public charity is a charitable organization that has successfully filed an exemption application with the IRS for its public charity status, or certain other organizations that the IRS considers to be public charities without filing, such as many religious organizations and educational institutions.

An individual or personal Fidelity Charitable Giving Account has no minimum initial or subsequent contribution requirements.

The Fidelity Charitable Corporate Giving Account has a $100,000 minimum initial contribution requirement.

Cash equivalents, publicly traded stock, mutual fund shares, bonds, certain private or restricted stock, certain retirement assets and cryptocurrency, including bitcoin, are eligible for contribution to Fidelity Charitable. We are happy to discuss proposed contributions with you. Please contact us at 800-262-6039 for assistance.

Contributions of privately held company stock are reviewed and accepted on a case-by-case basis. For all privately held company stock inquiries, please contact us at 800-262-6039.

Certain cryptocurrency, including bitcoin, is eligible for contribution to Fidelity Charitable. For all cryptocurrency inquiries, please contact us at 800-262-6039.

Under the Internal Revenue Code, deductions for charitable contributions are subject to certain "percentage limitations" that limit the deductions that can be taken to a stated percentage of adjusted gross income ("AGI") in the year the deduction is taken. (Contributions in excess of these percentage limitations may be carried forward up to five subsequent years.) Because Fidelity Charitable is a public charity, the percentage limitations that apply are generally the most favorable charitable deductions available under IRS rules.

Deductions for contributions of long-term capital gain property (such as appreciated securities held for more than one year) are limited to 30% of AGI.

Deductions for all other contributions (including contributions of cash) are limited to 60% of AGI.

Your ability to take itemized deductions may be subject to certain other limitations. Business entities using a Corporate Giving Account may have different tax considerations. Please contact your tax advisor to determine your tax deductibility limits.

The FMV for publicly traded securities is determined by multiplying the number of shares contributed by the average of the high and low prices for the day on which the shares are received. It is the figure that is used for tax-deduction purposes. The proceeds are determined by what the securities are sold for, multiplied by the number of shares contributed, then subtracted by any commission (usually 1.2 cents per share). The final amount is deposited into the investment pools and will be available for distribution. This procedure was established to follow the IRS standard.

Yes, being mindful of year-end deadlines is critical for ensuring your contribution is processed in the correct year. For our most current year-end contribution timelines, please refer to our charitable year-end deadlines page.

Currently, QCDs cannot be made to donor-advised fund sponsors, private foundations and supporting organizations, though these are categorized as charities. Donors should check with their tax advisor before making a gift to ensure the organization is qualified to accept QCDs.

A third party is a person or entity that makes a contribution to Fidelity Charitable that is not an Account Holder on the Giving Account. Third parties can include, but are not limited to, a trust, corporation, limited liability company, or partnership.

Yes. Funds can be transferred from another donor-advised fund (DAF). Please contact the DAF provider to initiate a grant to Fidelity Charitable and provide the following information:

Non-Profit Name: Fidelity Charitable
Tax ID: 110303001
Regular Mailing Address: P.O. Box 770001, Cincinnati, OH 45277
Overnight Mailing Address: 100 Crosby Parkway, Covington, KY 41015
Special Purpose/Designation: Your Fidelity Charitable Giving Account number

Open a Giving Account online in three steps.

To open a Giving Account for your organization or company, download the Organizational Giving Account application.

The Fidelity Charitable Trustees have appointed Strategic Advisers, Inc., a Fidelity Investments company and an SEC-registered investment advisor, to be the investment advisor to Fidelity Charitable. The Fidelity Charitable Trustees meet with Strategic Advisers, Inc. regularly to review the investment pools, the underlying investment options and the investment performance.

Fidelity Charitable offers a wide range of investment pool options for donors to choose from. Like with any investment strategy, diversifying assets in a Giving Account with a suitable asset allocation is critical to helping donors meet their specific charitable goals.

For those donors who want to customize an asset allocation in their Giving Account, Fidelity Charitable offers single asset class pools that can be combined in a variety of ways to help meet unique philanthropic goals. The key to this strategy is to revisit the asset allocation often and rebalance regularly. Our single asset class pools are truly part of an open architecture—we offer both passively and actively managed options and Fidelity and non-Fidelity managed options. Pool names ending in "Access" indicate those options that have underlying investments that are externally managed.

Our sustainable and impact investing pools can also be used as building blocks for a broader asset allocation for those donors who want exposure to strategies that consider social and environmental factors, while also emphasizing financial returns.

For donors who prefer a simpler option, asset allocation pools offer instant diversification among multiple asset classes. Donors choose the appropriate risk level—ranging from conservative to aggressive—and the pool will be managed against a target asset allocation and automatically rebalanced for them. Donors interested in this all-in-one option can utilize the Pool Selector, an online tool that simplifies the decision process for allocations in your Giving Account.

The Charitable Legacy Pool is an "all-weather" asset allocation option that goes beyond traditional equity, bond and short-term investment allocations. The pool seeks to provide inflation-adjusted returns while preserving capital through various market cycles and is meant to match a donor’s consistent grant-making.

For additional information on each investment pool option, please visit our Investment Options page.

Fidelity Charitable offers several investment pools for donors who are interested in investment strategies that exclude specific industries (negative screens) or consider environmental, social and corporate governance factors (positive screens). To learn more about the investment pool options that seek to consider both financial return and social good, refer to our Sustainable and Impact Investing Pools page.

Fidelity Charitable offers a wide range of investment options with unique investment objectives and strategies to help our donors meet their philanthropic goals. The investment pools aggregate, or pool, donations from many different Giving Accounts and invest those assets in an underlying investment(s). The investment pools typically invest in mutual funds, which are professionally managed and diversified across many different holdings.

Sustainable and impact investments are investments made in companies, organizations and funds with the intent to generate positive social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. We currently offer both active and passive sustainable and impact investing pools.

More information is available on our Sustainable and Impact Investing Pools page.