The football season is winding to a close, but we have our own “Pick Six” of topics. Click below to learn more about what happened in Philanthropic Services this past year.

Individual Giving Summary

Supporting our fellow Quaker Organizations

ACGA Rates Remain High

Right Relationship with Real Property

FFC Granting Funds

Connect to Create

In 2025, donors established over $1.0 million in charitable gift annuities to benefit Quaker organizations, made $469,600 in gifts to donor advised funds, and contributed $13,600 to endowment funds, all through Friends Fiduciary. We also processed 170 stock gifts totaling $1.6 million and benefiting Friends organizations and faith communities across the country. 

Planned gifts provide real financial support to Quaker organizations: last year, remainder gifts from Charitable Gift Annuities (CGAs) issued by FFC totaled $261,100, paid to Quaker organizations including Friends schools, camps, colleges, life care communities, and Quaker organizations. Pooled Life Income, Donor Advised, and Endowment Funds held by FFC distributed an additional $1.4 million for various charitable purposes to Quaker non-profit beneficiaries. During 2025, twenty-four meetings and organizations participated in FFC’s online giving program, resulting in donations of more than $178,500. 

Maximum payout rates for charitable gift annuity contracts, which are currently at their highest level since 2007, will remain unchanged at the start of 2026.

Annual annuity payments/rates for one annuitant, a $20,000 gift:

These figures are for illustration purposes only. Rates are effective as of January 1, 2024.The ACGA recommended rates can change over time due to economic conditions.

In late 2025, the American Council on Gift Annuities, the national non-profit that determines CGA lifetime payment rates, reaffirmed the rate of return assumption that has been in effect since January 1, 2024. Maximum payout rates for charitable gift annuity contracts, which are currently at their highest level since 2007, will remain unchanged. The Council annually reviews rates, typically in the spring and fall, to determine if an adjustment is warranted.

Continuing high rates make this a particularly advantageous time to establish a charitable gift annuity because they provide donors lifetime income for a guaranteed annual amount. This amount is determined at the time the annuity is established and does not change. If you fund the annuity using shares that have appreciated in value, there are tax advantages as well.

An added, often overlooked benefit of establishing a CGA with Friends Fiduciary is that it can be an opportunity to realign your investments with your values. You can establish an FFC charitable gift annuity using shares of companies whose products or policies no longer reflect your values. While generating lifetime payments to you, the donated assets are invested consistent with FFC’s (and your) Quaker values.

In alignment with yearly meetings’ recommendations regarding ownership of real property, FFC no longer takes title for properties of active monthly or quarterly meetings and partners with meetings and organizations to “right their relationship” with their property.

Many Friends are surprised to learn that FFC still holds deeds to several monthly meetings and other Quaker organizations. It is helpful to examine the evolution of FFC and historical Quaker attitude regarding incorporation to better understand this antiquated practice.

Nineteenth century Quakers strongly resisted the idea of incorporation.  In 1834, arguing before the New Jersey Court of Appeals, Attorney Samuel Southard said, “[Friends’] rights are not to be adjudged upon principles applicable to incorporation; we act as individuals, the property is common and joint.” Instead of incorporating, many monthly meetings relied upon individual members to hold title to their real property. This practice continued into the 20^th century.

Perhaps in response to Friends’ aversion to incorporation and the cumbersome process of continually replacing individuals to hold title on behalf of meetings, in 1898 The Trustees of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends was formed as a separate corporate entity from the yearly meeting. Its purpose was to hold property and execute trusts of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (Hicksite), its subordinate members, and certain related organizations. A few decades later, in 1920, the Friends Fiduciary Corporation was chartered, also to receive, hold, and administer real and personal property and to execute trusts of the Orthodox branch of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. The two groups remained separate after the 1955 reunification of the Orthodox and Hicksite branches until 1975 when the Trustees of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and the Friends Fiduciary Corporation merged to form the Fiduciary Corporation of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. In 2001, that body changed its name back to Friends Fiduciary Corporation.

As incorporation became more common and accepted by Friends, meetings grew more comfortable with the practice and title was transferred from Friends Fiduciary to the owner-in-fact of the real property, the newly incorporated monthly meeting.  Today, most yearly meetings provide guidance to member meetings regarding property ownership. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s Faith and Practice published in 2018 states that, “An important aspect of owning real property is holding title to the land,” and recommends that title to real property be held by the meeting as a permanent corporate body.

In alignment with yearly meetings’ recommendations regarding ownership of real property, FFC no longer holds title for properties of active monthly or quarterly meetings and partners with meetings and organizations to “right their relationship” with their property. If FFC currently holds title to your meeting’s real property, contact Philanthropic Services (see below) to start the transfer process.

Friends Fiduciary also supports fellow Quaker organizations in its capacity as a grant-making institution.

Friends Fiduciary serves as trustee for more than 80 granting trusts representing assets of over $70 million. Many of the trusts were established in the 1700s, and nearly all the trusts are for distinct purposes benefitting specific organizations. For example, Quakers have historically left money in perpetuity for the care and maintenance of their Meetinghouses, the well-being of the “aged and infirm”, and scholarships for children attending Friends schools.

There are a few trusts held by Friends Fiduciary that provide discretion in how funds may be distributed. In those instances, a discretionary granting committee considers requests for funds and how the funds should be used. In 2025, FFC granted over $260,000 that supported 24 initiatives benefiting Quaker organizations across the country. Please visit the FFC website’s Grants & Scholarships section for more details.

Friends Fiduciary continues its work to build and foster relationships with Quaker organizations and faith communities. For planned giving support that meets your unique needs as a donor or Quaker organization contact, Mimi Blackwell, Director of Philanthropic Services, at mblackwell@friendsfiduciary.org or 215.241.7272, to learn more.