Education, religious groups gain most from giving strategy

By HALELUYA HADERO
AP Business Writer

A new report is shedding light on what types of organizations are receiving the most donations from charitable funds that have been a hotbed of contention. A report released Thursday by Indiana University and The Giving USA Foundation found between 2014 and 2018, grants from so-called donor-advised funds were mostly given to education, religious and other public-society benefit organizations, like United Way. Donor-advised funds allow donors to receive a tax deduction upfront without directly giving the money to a working charity. The federal government doesn’t mandate donors to disburse the money, leading critics to argue they’ve essentially become warehouses for charitable dollars.