Though a one-time donation can make a profound impact for a nonprofit organization, our 2023 report Why Giving Matters showed that Vanguard Charitable donors have a high frequency of repeat grants.

When a donor gives multiple times to one nonprofit within a 12-month period, that is an instance of a repeat grant. You may already have it on your list to send a donation to your favorite organizations several times a year, but this takes time, and you may miss giving a grant you planned to send.

That’s why Vanguard Charitable offers a tool that allows donors to schedule automated grants. These automated recurring grants are quick to set up and ensure grants reliably go out when they should.

Learn more here about recurring grants and how Vanguard Charitable makes it easy to consistently support your favorite public charities.

The importance of recurring grants

Recurring grants are a powerful way to show nonprofits your support. While one-time donations are important for the success of nonprofit programs, sending several grants throughout the year can provide organizations with more financial stability in historically slower giving periods, like the summer season.

Nonprofits surveyed for Why Giving Matters identified scheduled or recurring grants as one of their top three granting priorities. Recurring granting allows nonprofits to budget more effectively and establish a longer-term strategy due to the expectation of future donations.

"Recurring grants are nice because they add stability to cash flow and help us budget accurately." - Vanguard Charitable grantee

Streamline your giving, maximize your impact

We also found in Why Giving Matters that donors are more likely to give repeat grants the longer they have a Vanguard Charitable donor-advised fund (DAF). This suggests that when your giving goals are more established, you are more likely to give on a recurring basis, as seen in the chart below. 

Building functionalities that serves you and your giving goals is top of mind for us. That’s why we created a feature for you, with your giving preferences in mind. With the recurring grants function in Vanguard Charitable online accounts, you can schedule donations through your profile at the frequency of your choosing—for flexibility, peace of mind, and confidence in your giving. Recurring grants are a way to set-it-and-forget-it, leveraging administrative support from Vanguard Charitable to maintain and optimize your planned giving throughout the year. 

With each recurring grant that you set up, you’re streamlining your giving. This saves you time and energy, ensures ongoing philanthropic activity, and guarantees your support for your favorite nonprofits at critical times of the year. With your Vanguard Charitable dashboard, you can see all of your grant schedules in one place and ensure that you’re reaching your giving potential. 

How to set up recurring grants

With just a few clicks, you can create a recurring grant schedule to automatically recommend a grant on a regular frequency.

Similar to a one-time grant, select the nonprofit you’d like to recommend your grant to. Next, you’ll see the option at the top of your screen to toggle between a one-time grant and a recurring grant. Once you select ‘Recurring Grant’, you then input your grant amount, frequency, number of payments, start date, and an optional end date.

Setting up a recurring grant is simple, easy, and takes only a few minutes for peace of mind, year-round. Schedule one today to make support for your favorite charities easier and more impactful.