Fidelity Charitable donors gave record $4 billion in first half of year

Fidelity Charitable, an independent public charity and the nation's largest grantmaker, said that donors recommended $4 billion in grants through the middle of July, a 48% increase compared to the same period last year. (More: Record $5.2 billion given through Fidelity Charitable in 2018) The charity's 668,000 donor-recommended grants supported 105,000 charities. Fidelity said in a release. Last year, Fidelity Charitable donors made $5.2 billion in grants, $700 million more than in 2017. Since its inception in 1991, Fidelity Charitable said its donors have made more than $35 billion in grants to more than 278,000 charities. It noted that last year, contributions of non-publicly traded assets reached more than $1 billion and included private stock, limited partnership interests and real estate, as well as cryptocurrencies.