This week, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody called on Fidelity Charitable, a donor-advised fund provider, to comply with a new state law that takes effect on July 1.
The new law prohibits financial institutions from denying services based on political affiliations, political opinions, or religious beliefs. “The Florida Attorney General’s Office has reason to believe that Fidelity Charitable has gone against what it publicly claims about charitable donations and discriminated against donors wishing to give to religious groups,” Moody’s office insisted.
“It appears that Fidelity Charitable is speaking out of both sides of its mouth. On one hand, they claim that they don’t decline to facilitate grants based on religious or political grounds, but on the other, they have refused to honor a customer’s wishes when the client wanted to donate to a group Fidelity disagrees with. This practice not only goes against the company’s stated mission, but it will soon violate Florida law. I’m strongly urging Fidelity Charitable to ensure that this practice will not continue,” Moody said.
“Fidelity Charitable is one of the largest providers of donor-advised funds in the United States of America with a mission to ‘make charitable giving accessible, simple and effective.’ Fidelity Charitable claims that it does not decline grants ‘based on political, religious or philosophical grounds.’ Fidelity Charitable also claims to protect a donor’s anonymity,” Moody’s office noted
“According to public reports, as well as reports obtained by the Florida Attorney General’s Office, Fidelity Charitable has at times outright refused to facilitate donations. In other cases, the company asked a donor to forego anonymity if the donor wanted to give money to religious or conservative groups.”
In a letter to Fidelity Charitable President Jacob Pruitt, Moody wrote, “While Fidelity Charitable’s misrepresentations to its customers are concerning enough, effective July 1, Florida law will prohibit financial institutions from denying services based on political opinions, political affiliations, or religious beliefs… Since that is precisely what Fidelity appears to be doing, I ask for your assurances that you will comply with state law as of July 1, 2023.”
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