America’s Largest Charities Raised 5 Percent More Last Year; Donor-Advised Funds Won Big

Groups that solicit and manage donor-advised funds continue to crowd into the upper ranks of America’s biggest charities, according to new Chronicle of Philanthropy data.

The United Way hangs on to the No. 1 spot in the Chronicle’s latest Philanthropy 400, the annual list of the U.S. nonprofits that raise the most in private support. But its hold is tenuous: Only $23.5 million separates it from the next group in line, Fidelity Charitable.

United Way Worldwide and its affiliates raised $3.87 billion in the 2014 fiscal year, representing flat performance—a mere 1.5-percent growth—compared with 2013. Fidelity Charitable, a donor-advised fund manager associated with a financial-services company, gained 3.2 percent in 2014, raising $3.85 billion.