For the first time in modern history, an entire generation faces the prospect of being permanently priced out of homeownership, with long-term consequences for wealth accumulation, community stability, and economic mobility. At the same time, the philanthropic landscape has quietly changed. Donor-advised funds have accumulated unprecedented levels of capital, much of it sitting undeployed while social needs intensify.
The United States is facing a historic housing affordability crisis—one that increasingly excludes first-time buyers from homeownership and deepens generational wealth inequality. While public policy and private markets continue to debate solutions, one source of capital remains significantly underutilized: donor-advised funds (DAFs).
As of 2024, DAFs held more than $326 billion in charitable assets, growing nearly 28% year over year, with contributions reaching a record $89.6 billion (DAF Research Collaborative). At the same time, homeownership is becoming less accessible than at any point in modern history, with prices far outpacing income growth and first-time buyers increasingly shut out of competitive markets.
Donor-advised funds represent a powerful and timely tool to address the homeownership crisis. The capital exists. The need is urgent. What is missing is activation.
Since 2000, the median price of a home in the United States has nearly tripled, rising from approximately $165,000 to about $443,000 (Federal Reserve). Over the same period, real median household income grew far more modestly—from roughly $42,000 in 2000 to $75,000 in 2022, an increase of just 79% (US Census Bureau). As a result, home prices relative to income are higher today than at any point in the last 75 years. In parallel, mortgage rates have risen sharply, student debt burdens have increasingly saddled first-time homebuyers, and the growing prevalence of cash buyers has made many housing markets more competitive.
The consequences are especially severe for first-time buyers and historically excluded groups. First-time buyers now account for just 24% of home purchases, a historic low (National Association of Realtors). For minority groups, the picture is even bleaker: Black and Hispanic households experience significantly lower homeownership rates—44% and 51%, respectively, compared to 72% for White households (National Association of Realtors).
This matters because homeownership remains the single largest driver of household wealth. In 2022, the median homeowner’s net worth was nearly 40 times higher than that of a renter, reinforcing the role ownership plays in long-term economic mobility and community stability (Federal Reserve).
Despite this, much of the affordability conversation focuses on rental housing alone. While rental supply is critical, solutions that expand paths to ownership are essential to addressing the root causes of wealth inequality.
Over the past decade, donor-advised funds have quietly become one of the most significant pools of philanthropic capital in the United States. What began as a niche giving vehicle is now a central part of the charitable ecosystem.
As of 2024, donor-advised funds held more than $326 billion in charitable assets, with annual contributions reaching a record $89.6 billion (DAF Research Collaborative). These assets are already earmarked for charitable use and legally committed to public benefit. In other words, the capital needed to address large-scale social challenges is not hypothetical—it already exists and it is sitting in accounts at places like Fidelity, Schwab, and Vanguard.
Donor-advised funds represent a powerful source of charitable capital, but their full potential is not always realized in practice. In an average year, approximately 37% of DAF accounts do not make an outbound grant (DAF Research Collaborative). Because donor-advised funds have no minimum distribution requirement, assets in inactive accounts can remain undeployed indefinitely, even after donors receive associated tax benefits. This dynamic has prompted growing debate about the role donor-advised funds are playing in practice—particularly as donors receive immediate tax benefits and asset managers collect ongoing fees, while charitable capital may remain idle even as social needs intensify.
Housing—and particularly homeownership—illustrates why this conversation is more important now than ever. Few social challenges are as urgent, capital-intensive, and consequential for long-term economic mobility. Yet despite significant public, private, and philanthropic attention on the issue, many housing solutions remain constrained by regulatory complexity, rigid funding structures, and limited access to flexible capital—preventing otherwise viable solutions from reaching the households that need them most.
Donor-advised fund donors are uniquely suited to meet this moment. Unlike many others, DAF donors can move quickly, deploy capital in nontraditional ways, and take calculated risks in support of emerging solutions. This flexibility makes DAFs an important part of the solution, enabling them to complement public policy, traditional investors, and established philanthropic efforts by filling gaps that other forms of capital are unable to address in real time.
In the context of a generational homeownership crisis, the central question is not whether donor-advised funds are large enough to matter. It is whether they can be activated with the urgency, creativity, and intentionality the moment demands.
Housing—and especially homeownership—is often treated as a single problem. In reality, it is a system with multiple, distinct failure points: rigid mortgage requirements, a limited supply of homes priced for first-time and middle-income buyers, and ownership models that struggle to scale within existing financing systems. These are not the only challenges in the system, but they represent some of the most persistent and consequential barriers to homeownership today.
Rather than forcing a single solution, donor-advised fund capital can support a range of approaches that address these failure points directly. The following three pathways highlight core solution sets within the homeownership ecosystem—illustrative, not exhaustive—that together provide a practical framework for action.
For most households, the primary path to homeownership still runs through the traditional mortgage system, yet that system presents significant barriers for first-time buyers. Large down payment requirements, strict underwriting standards, credit score thresholds, and documentation requirements often exclude otherwise qualified households—particularly those without intergenerational wealth or traditional employment histories.
A set of well-established solutions has emerged to help buyers navigate these constraints within the existing financing framework. Down payment assistance programs, like Homium or the Dearfield Fund, reduce the upfront capital required to purchase a home, while homebuyer education and credit counseling programs help households strengthen credit profiles, manage debt-to-income ratios, and prepare for mortgage qualification. Together, these interventions can meaningfully expand access to ownership by helping buyers meet lender requirements and navigate the purchasing process with greater confidence.
While these approaches do not change the structure of the mortgage system itself, they play a critical role in widening access to it. When deployed at scale and paired with responsible lending, these solutions help first-time buyers convert income into ownership, stabilize households, and begin building equity—making them an essential part of any comprehensive strategy to address the homeownership crisis.
A second—and perhaps even more consequential—constraint is supply. Across much of the country, there is a severe shortage of homes priced for first-time and moderate-income buyers. Even where demand is strong, attainable ownership units are often the hardest projects to finance, particularly for nonprofit or mission-driven developers.
Many viable projects stall before construction begins due to gaps in predevelopment funding, construction financing, or risk tolerance—especially in mixed-income or ownership-focused developments that do not fit conventional lending models. As a result, the market continues to underproduce the very homes most households need.
Solutions in this category focus on enabling the development of ownership-oriented housing: supporting nonprofit and mission-driven developers, unlocking stalled projects, and helping bring attainable homes to market. When these efforts succeed, they not only increase supply but also create pathways to ownership in communities where options are otherwise limited.
Addressing this constraint is essential to any durable homeownership strategy. Without more homes priced for first-time buyers, even the most effective buyer assistance programs will struggle to achieve lasting impact.
The third pathway reflects a growing recognition that traditional mortgage-based homeownership no longer works for many households. Changes in labor markets, household balance sheets, and demographic trends have outpaced the evolution of housing finance, leaving large segments of the population without viable paths to ownership—particularly households that can afford monthly housing costs but cannot meet the upfront or debt-based requirements of a conventional mortgage.
A range of alternative ownership models has emerged to address these gaps by rethinking how equity, risk, and responsibility are shared. Community land trusts, for example, lower the cost of entry by separating the home from the land and providing long-term stewardship that supports housing stability and community resilience. These models are designed to expand access to ownership in high-cost or rapidly changing markets, offering a durable pathway for households that would otherwise remain renters.
More recently, fractional ownership models have begun to address similar challenges through a different structure. Rather than requiring a single buyer to finance the full cost of a home, fractional ownership allows households to purchase a portion of a property while partnering with outside capital for the remainder. Models such as Ownify enable buyers to enter homeownership with significantly lower upfront costs and without taking on traditional mortgage debt, while still building equity over time and retaining a clear path to increased ownership.
Together, these approaches reflect a broader shift toward ownership models that better align with modern financial realities and expand access beyond the limits of the conventional mortgage system.
For many donors, the primary barrier to engaging in housing is not a lack of interest, but uncertainty about how to act. Housing is complex and capital-intensive, and donor-advised funds are often used conservatively as a result. In reality, DAFs already offer multiple, well-established ways to deploy capital in support of homeownership.
At the most basic level, DAFs can make grants to nonprofit organizations, supporting buyer assistance programs, housing counseling, land trusts, and other ownership-focused initiatives. In addition, DAFs can be used to make mission-related and impact investments, often through nonprofit intermediaries. These investments can take the form of debt or equity and are structured to advance charitable purposes while recycling capital back into the DAF over time.
An increasing number of DAF sponsors and platforms help donors navigate these options. Organizations such as Impact Assets, UI Charitable, and Neta Foundation work with donors to structure grants and mission-aligned investments, while platforms like CapShift and Realize Impact help surface opportunities and manage diligence and administration. Together, these providers reduce friction and make it possible for donors to deploy capital thoughtfully without needing deep technical expertise. The tools already exist; what matters now is the decision to use them.
The homeownership crisis is not a distant or cyclical challenge—it is a structural shift unfolding in real time. For the first time in modern history, an entire generation faces the prospect of being permanently priced out of homeownership, with long-term consequences for wealth accumulation, community stability, and economic mobility.
At the same time, the philanthropic landscape has quietly changed. Donor-advised funds have accumulated unprecedented levels of capital, much of it sitting undeployed while social needs intensify. This convergence—acute housing pressure alongside historically large pools of flexible charitable capital—creates a rare window for meaningful intervention. The resources required to move the needle already exist; what has been missing is activation.
This is why now matters. Donor-advised funds are not designed to solve every problem, but they are uniquely positioned to act in moments like this—when speed, flexibility, and scale matter most. Deploying DAF capital toward homeownership today is not simply a charitable choice; it is a decision that will shape economic opportunity for decades to come.
Interested in using your DAF to address the homeownership crisis? You can get started investing here by scheduling a meeting with a member of our team.