Fidelity Enhances Charitable Gift Fund

Fidelity Investments has added two new enhancements to its Charitable Gift Fund investment pool program that are designed to provide contributors with greater diversification opportunities when they spend their charitable dollars.

Starting this holiday season, the Boston fund giant will integrate third-party mutual funds into four of its already existing investment pools, ultimately expanding the selection of funds in which its investment pools can invest, company officials said.

The funds' investment manager, Strategic Investment Advisors, can now select from 2,000 Fidelity and non-Fidelity funds to create the pools, officials said, thereby expanding the investment opportunities for charitable donors.

The Gift Fund is also introducing a new pair of investment pools, which will also integrate fund selections from both Fidelity and non-Fidelity funds. This move will bring the total number of investment pool choices available in the program to 11, officials said.

"People have come to expect options when they invest for financial goals such as retirement and college, so we believe that it's important that the Gift Fund also provide more diversification opportunities for their charitable contributions," said David Giunta, president, Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund. "By expanding our investment pools program and adding non-Fidelity mutual funds to selected pools, we're providing more potential investment opportunities to grow a donor's charitable contributions, something that could make additional dollars available for charitable grants in the years to come."

The new pools that are being introduced are the All-Cap Equity Pool, which is for contributors seeking exposure in the U.S. stock market, and the Interest-Income II Pool, which is designed for those who are seeking reasonable income and modest capital appreciation without subjecting contributions to the higher risk of stock funds.

These new enhancements will impact financial advisors who face an increased demand from clients at year-end to maximize the charitable impact of their contributions. More than half of wealthy investors, Fidelity officials said, discuss charitable giving with their advisors and roughly one-third currently use donor-advised fund programs, like the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund.

"We expect financial advisors will find this new level of flexibility very attractive, as the nation's largest donor-advised fund program now provides even more investment options to help clients maximize their charitable giving dollars," Giunta added. "As a result, we expect to see financial advisors beginning to drive more support for the nation's non-profits as they integrate planned giving into their clients' overall wealth management plans."