It is reasonable to assume the wealthiest Americans donate the most to charitable causes. Philanthropy, however, is hardly limited to the "richest" among us. Instead, it's the power of the little guy, the individual citizen, that is the greatest among us.

According to Karl Zinsmeister of the Philanthropy Roundtable in his Almanac of American Philanthropy, only 15% of all U.S. charitable giving comes from foundations, and only 5% from corporations. The rest, a staggering percentage that is annually donated by Americans, comes from individuals. Even among private foundations, the tilt is toward the small — only 2% of all private foundations have assets above $50 million.

Giving to others is something that permeates our culture regardless of excess means. Charitable organizations and nonprofits would fail to exist if not for this tradition.

While knowing it exists, measuring this giving is challenging. This year, Forbes changed course in reporting the philanthropic activity of the 400 wealthiest Americans by doing more than just relying on trackable disclosed gifts. By including individual foundation grants and reported giving, this year's collection reveals that everyday Americans have more in common with the wealthy than we otherwise may think.

However, an important distinction is that Forbes's list does not take into account money put into donor-advised funds (DAFs). While charitable contributions are certainly noteworthy, I believe the public must understand how integral donor-advised funds are within the charitable giving space too.

Read the full article about donor-advised funds by Lawson Bader at Forbes.