$25 billion, one giving decision at a time

The asset most people forget to give

Most Christians give from their checking account. NCF's central insight is that the checking account is usually the smallest thing a family owns. Appreciated stock, a stake in a business, farmland, real estate — these are where the real capacity sits, and giving them directly is often far more efficient than selling first.

Founded in 1982, NCF is now the largest faith-based donor-advised fund sponsor in the country, helping families set up Giving Funds and give non-cash assets tax-efficiently.

What the numbers actually fund

In one recent year, NCF givers mobilized more than $3.2 billion for 38,507 charities: $468 million to 8,645 churches, $113 million to spiritual development work, $20 million to women's ministries, $7 million to men's ministries, and $5 million to pastoral care.

In an earlier reported year, $100 million went to Scripture translation and $153 million across 40,826 grants to evangelism and missions charities. These are not endowment balances sitting still — givers contributed $2.5 billion and granted out $2.1 billion in the same year.

One story behind the number

NCF's recent impact report features Creek Stewart, a survival-television personality whose story runs through a restored marriage and the loss of his daughter Primrose to Trisomy 18, and into "God in the Wild" — a wilderness retreat ministry where the report's cover photo shows a young boy being baptized.

That is what a granting statistic looks like when you zoom all the way in.

How this connects to your portfolio

A well-built portfolio and a well-built giving plan should be designed together. Which assets to hold, which to give, and when, is a stewardship question before it is a tax question — though it is often a considerable tax question too.