No. 8: National Philanthropic Trust
UNITED STATES – £285m
The National Philanthropic Trust (NPT) was founded in 1996. Since then, it has raised almost £3.5bn in charitable contributions and currently manages £2.6bn in charitable assets. NPT has made more than 121,000 grants totaling over £1.1bn to charities all over the world.
NPT is one of the organisations in this list that makes use of Donor Advised Funds or DAFs. These are the most popular and fastest growing charitable giving vehicle. It allows donors to make a charitable contribution, receive an immediate tax benefit and then recommend grants from the fund over time.
This June, NPT announced a dedicated UK branch of the organisation, NPT-UK, working with donors, advisors, financial institutions and foundations to identify and achieve philanthropic goals through DAFs. Former Director of London based philanthropy at Charities Aid Foundation and former worker in the London hedge fund industry John Canady heads this UK branch.
NPT considers itself a “public charity dedicated to providing philanthropic expertise to donors, foundations and financial institutions, enabling them to realize their philanthropic aspirations.”
Charities that received grants from NPT include an Arizona-based nonprofit protecting endangered species, a Cambodia based project where families build filtration systems in their homes to maintain safe drinking water and US-based food banks working to alleviate hunger.