Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program

Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program
Name	Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program
Alias	Vanguard Charitable
Founded	1997
Founder	Vanguard Group
President	Jane G. Greenfield (2015-07 to present: 2021-08-29)
Board of trustees	web  |  local copy, 2021-08-30
Type	501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
EIN (Tax ID)	23-2888152
Location	Malvern, Pennsylvania, USA
Motto	Fund Raising Organizations That Cross Categories
Areas served	Global
Revenue	$2,034,194,172 (2018)
Expenses	$1,003,148,960 (2018)
Assets	$8,661,965,723 (2018)
Additional information	GuideStar.org
Description	"Since our inception in 1997, we've granted over $10 billion (via nearly 1,000,000 individual grants) to nonprofit organizations around the country and world. Our number of grants issued and total dollars granted have increased each of the past five years. In 2018, our grants for a single calendar year exceeded $1 billion for the first time in our history. In both 2019 and 2020, this total increased again." [Source]
Associations	Musk Foundation
Website	VanguardCharitable.org

Background

Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program ("Vanguard Charitable") is the fourth-largest manager of donor-advised funds (DAFs) and the 17th largest grantmaking organization in the United States as of 2017. Founded by the commercial investment firm The Vanguard Group, Inc. in 1997 [<< assets under management, Vanguard Group, 2020: $7.1 trillion (2020)], Vanguard Charitable manages donor-advised funds (DAF) accounts and "impact investing" portfolios for high-net-worth individuals, making grants to a range of charitable organizations across the political spectrum in accordance with the requests of individual donors.

In 2019, Vanguard Charitable became the subject of criticism from the political left, facing accusations of funding , despite the fact that the charity is cause-neutral and disburses grants only when asked to do so by individual donors. Most of the attacks on Vanguard Charitable came from left-wing online magazine Sludge, which alleged that Vanguard Charitable donated over $2.5 million to 11 hate groups between 2015 and 2017. Sludge reporter Alex Kotch used a Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) list to identify the alleged hate groups, a list which has been controversial even in left-of-center communities for grouping mainstream right-of-center organizations with groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. An independent 2019 investigation of the SPLC list by David Montgomery published in The Washington Post called the list "elaborate taxonomy of ill will."

All of the alleged hate groups to which Vanguard Charitable made grants were registered charities in good standing with the IRS. The Post Magazine report singled out two of these groups, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), and the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), for having substantial ties to mainstream American government, with the ADF winning several cases before the Supreme Court over the past decade and the CIS having testified before Congress over 100 times.

The left further critiqued Vanguard Charitable for providing donations to pro-life organizations, with anther 2019 Sludge report claiming that Vanguard Charitable was the 10th largest supporter the passage of laws in various states restricting abortion in the spring and summer of 2019. However, Vanguard Charitable has funded organizations on both sides of the abortion debate, making over $10 million in donations to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA) in 2015 alone, making Vanguard Charitable the seventh-largest funder of PPFA, that year.

Attacks from the Left

Since 2019, Vanguard Charitable has been attacked from the left for funding supposed hate groups, despite the fact that the charity does not exercise discretion over grant funding, instead making donations at the request of account holders. Left-of-center groups have criticized Vanguard Charitable, and donor-advised funds (DAFs) more generally, for allowing right-of-center donors to give to right-leaning charitable organizations while remaining anonymous, despite the frequent use of DAFs to contribute to left-of-center causes.

In November of 2019, left-of-center publication PRWatch (a publication of the left-wing Center for Media and Democracy) attacked Vanguard Charitable for supporting a social media summit organized by President Donald Trump, alleging that groups affiliated with the summit "spread propaganda." Six months later, in March of 2020, PRWatch again attacked Vanguard Charitable for allowing contributions to the Heartland Institute, a right-of-center organization known for skepticism of human impact on climate change [climate change denial], and environmentalism more broadly.

Funding of Hate Groups

Most of the attacks on Vanguard Charitable began with left-wing online outlet Sludge in 2019 when a report alleged that Vanguard Charitable donated over $2.5 million to 11 between 2015 and 2017. Sludge author Alex Kotch used a Southern Poverty Law Center list to identify these hate groups, a list which has been historically controversial even in left-of-center communities for listing mainstream right-of-center organizations as hate groups. The same report alleged that other donor-advised funds (DAF) providers, including Fidelity Charitable, and Schwab Charitable Fund, were similarly guilty of funding SPLC-designated organizations.

The hate groups to which Vanguard Charitable made grants included social-conservative and immigration-restrictionist organizations within the political mainstream, including the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and the Family Research Council (FRC).

An independent 2019 investigation of the SPLC list by David Montgomery published in The Washington Post called the list an "elaborate taxonomy of ill will," grouping mainstream political organizations in with groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Montgomery's report explicitly singled out two of the groups which Vanguard Charitable had funded as victims of this taxonomy, noting that the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has won several cases before the Supreme Court over the past decade, and commenting that the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has testified before Congress over 100 times.

Criticism by Abortion Advocates

Vanguard Charitable has also been criticized for the left for providing donations to pro-life organizations, with the left-wing The American Prospect republishing further reporting by Sludge alleging that Vanguard Charitable, along with other charities, "funded the state abortion bans," in reference to a series of state-level abortion regulations passed during the spring and summer of 2019. The Sludge report listed Vanguard Charitable as the 10th most prolific organization supporting the bans on the grounds that they gave $167,500 to groups "involved in writing, testifying on, lobbying on, or otherwise promoting" bills to limit abortions in the United States between 2013 and 2017.

This critique of Vanguard Charitable, like others from the left, completely ignores Vanguard Charitable's policy of cause-blind giving. In fact, Vanguard Charitable made over $10 million in donations to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. itself in 2015 alone, making it the organization's seventh-largest funder that year.

People

Despite frequent attacks by the political left, Vanguard Charitable has donated to a range of organizations across the political spectrum and has been associated with several high-profile figures, including frequent left-of-center donors. Google co-founder Larry Page has given over $400 million to Vanguard Charitable over the past decade, primarily through his Carl Victor Page Memorial Foundation. Larry Page has been directly criticized for using his donor-advised funds (DAF) accounts as tax havens after Page's foundation failed to meet the minimum 5% payout rate for a family foundation, triggering last-minute donations into DAF accounts. Larry Page is a noted left-of-center donor, giving to the New Venture Fund in 2019.

Billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk has also taken advantage of Vanguard Charitable to house funds from his private charity, the Musk Foundation. In 2016, the Musk Foundation paid out just two grants that amounted to $47.8 million. One of these grants, sent to Vanguard Charitable to establish a DAF account, amounted to $37.8 million, over 75% of the Musk Foundation's total grants that year. Similar to Larry Page, Elon Musk drew scrutiny for the move, with some critics accusing him of trying to hide efforts to support interests close to Musk with his philanthropic giving, as in the past Musk has supported a charity managed by his brother and a school attended by his children.

Jane G. Greenfield

Jane G. Greenfield is president of Vanguard Charitable, a national donor-advised fund and one of the nation's top grantmakers. Prior to joining Vanguard Charitable in 2015, she held a number of positions as a principal in the Institutional, Retail, and Financial divisions at the Vanguard Group. Before joining the Vanguard Group in 2001, Jane Greenfield spent 16 years in the banking industry. Jane Greenfield holds Series 7, 24, 63, and 65 licenses, and the CIMA designation. In addition, Jane Greenfield has served on various nonprofit boards, including Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital, People's Light and Theatre, and United Way Women's Initiative. Jane Greenfield earned a B.A. in economics from the College of William and Mary, and an M.B.A. from Drexel University.

Donor Organizations

Donation Recipients

Nonprofit Information: Form 990 Information

Period	Total revenue	Total expenses	Total assets	Total liabilities	Unrelated business income?	Total contributions	Investment income	Executive compensation	Form 990
2018	$2,034,194,172	$1,003,148,960	$8,661,965,723	$44,564,193	Yes	$1,762,454,882	$182,571,391	$1,150,317	PDF
2017	$1,698,906,641	$770,912,907	$7,292,651,781	$11,586,162	Yes	$1,546,748,309	$139,618,014	$953,720	PDF
2016	$1,381,769,475	$715,614,609	$5,768,821,441	$5,651,940	No	$1,278,868,232	$113,750,680	$1,412,621	PDF
2015	$1,318,779,835	$708,620,937	$5,162,019,762	$5,989,388	No	$1,205,209,693	$95,175,424	$1,465,054	PDF
2014	$1,090,629,084	$606,797,877	$4,539,460,183	$4,042,090	No	$988,105,537	$87,724,314	$1,322,882	PDF
2013	$1,117,986,418	$509,528,710	$3,625,839,931	$30,020,972	No	$1,032,588,619	$73,719,145	$1,392,429	PDF
2012	$908,901,187	$484,128,809	$2,764,661,559	$7,376,386	No	$870,681,927	$48,287,063	$1,234,400	PDF
2011	$597,604,440	$7,855,148	$2,362,567,905	$33,104,829	No	$568,626,827	$41,297,411	$1,006,742	PDF

Additional Filings (PDFs)

Vanguard Charitable: financial overview   [Source]

Additional Reading

... The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) has identified the donors behind over $15 million that ALEC raised from 2014-19, or roughly one-third of its contribution revenue. ... Commercial donor-advised fund sponsors, including the Schwab Charitable Fund ($335,000) and the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program ($95,000), have also passed along their clients' funds anonymously to ALEC.

"... Also in 2016, the Musk Foundation made its largest disbursement to date, giving $37.8m to Vanguard Charitable. Vanguard Charitable is a donor-advised fund - a tax-efficient giving vehicle that holds money on behalf of multiple clients and distributes it over time. This type of structure makes it difficult for the public to tell which client is making which awards, a benefit for the publicity-shy. While secrecy was not Elon Musk's motivation for using donor-advised funds, he does believe that true philanthropy is done for the most part anonymously, a spokesperson for the foundation told the Guardian.

"There are some hints that Vanguard Charitable could be returning to grassroots giving. Last summer, Musk tweeted that he would help address the public health crisis in Flint, Michigan. Vanguard Charitable said that it has donated more than $1m worth of water filtration equipment and laptops to causes in the city. But, if Musk continues to use Vanguard Charitable, it would make his already secretive foundation even less transparent in future years. ..."

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