Who says fund firms don't compete on price? This week T. Rowe Price sliced the administrative fees on its donor-advised funds, pushing them below the fees charged by Vanguard for its donor funds. T. Rowe's administrative fees also now compare favorably with those charged by Fidelity and Schwab.

Officials at the Baltimore-based fund firm said that they made the fee cuts in response to the growth of assets in the program and the increase in the average account size. Assets in the T. Rowe donor-advised fund program hit $15.5 billion at the end of 2005, up from $12.7 billion in 2004, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

"The growth of our Program and the economies associated with larger accounts, have made it possible for us to lower fees on individual accounts over $500,000," said Ann Boyce, president of The T. Rowe Price Program for Charitable Giving. "Ultimately, this will mean more support for charities recommended by our donors."

T. Rowe charges six tiers of fees in the program depending upon the size of the account. Administrative fees for accounts of less than $500,000 in assets remained unchanged at 50 basis points while fees were reduced on the remaining five pricing tiers. In the case of accounts with $1 to $2.5 million, for example, T, Rowe dropped the administrative fees by more than half to 18 basis points from 40 basis points.

Administrative Fees on T. Rowe Price Donor-Advised Funds
Account Size	Fee (BPs)
< $500,000	50
$500,000 - $999,999	39
$1 mm-$2.49 mm	18
$2.5 mm - $4.9 mm	12
$5 mm - $14.9 mm	10
$15 mm- $49.9 mm	9
Source: T. Rowe Price Program for Charitable Giving

 

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