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Product Updates

A plain-language summary of what is new on the Phil platform. The most recent updates are listed first.

Our team ships improvements every week across the donor experience, giving and grants, investments, and the security that protects it all. This page summarizes the highlights in everyday terms.

July 2026

Faster onboarding, shared fund access, richer investment insight, and a major security cleanup.

Getting started

A faster, simpler way to open a giving account

  • New donors can now get started through a streamlined signup that collects just the essentials (name, home address, date of birth, and the fund agreement) while Phil sets up the investment account automatically behind the scenes.
  • Donors using this path can fund their account with a straightforward bank transfer, with a clear confirmation step so they always know what happens next.
  • Your giving account name is pre-filled from your own name so there is one less thing to type.
Working together

Share your fund with a second advisor

  • Funds can now have more than one advisor. You can invite a second person to help manage grants and contributions.
  • Email notifications about the fund now reach everyone on the fund, not just the primary account holder.
Investments

See how your charitable dollars are performing

  • The investment strategy page now shows live data about your portfolio, including what you originally put in versus what it is worth today.
  • You can compare your portfolio's growth against the S&P 500 over the same period, with clearer and more polished charts.
Transparency

Clearer fees and official legal pages

  • Fee information is now displayed directly in the app, so you can always see the rate that applies to your fund.
  • We published our official Privacy Policy and Terms of Service pages on the site, replacing earlier draft copy.
Behind the scenes

Security and reliability upgrades

  • We patched a large batch of security advisories in the third-party software the platform is built on and upgraded to the latest version of our web framework.
  • Sensitive configuration values are now loaded from a dedicated secure storage service rather than being kept alongside the application.
  • Grant summaries and filters were corrected so counts and dates always match reality, and drafted grants now show who the grant is going to right on the home dashboard.
  • Our internal support team received a revamped admin area with better fund records, activity logs, and a queue for reviewing new account applications, which means faster and more accurate support for you.

June 2026

New ways to contribute, fresher investment data, and stronger everyday account security.

Contributions

More ways to give into your fund

  • You can now fund your giving account by wire transfer, with clear step-by-step instructions and a reference code so your bank routes the money correctly.
  • You can also transfer stock you already own directly into your fund (a "DTC transfer"), and your contribution receipts now reflect wires and stock transfers properly.
  • Wire instructions call out any fees your bank may charge, so there are no surprises.
Investments

Investment balances that update sooner

  • Balances and holdings now use same-day trade data instead of waiting for trades to fully settle, so what you see on screen reflects what is actually happening in your portfolio.
  • Portfolio pie charts now show your actual holdings rather than target percentages.
  • You now receive an email when your portfolio finishes rebalancing after a strategy change, and another when contributed shares are invested.
  • Investment strategy options can now be updated by the Phil team without an app release, which means new strategies reach you faster.
Security

Protecting your account

  • Your session now signs out automatically after a period of inactivity, protecting your account on shared or unattended devices.
  • Changing the email address on your account now requires your password first.
Behind the scenes

Accuracy and record-keeping

  • We built automatic reconciliation for the internal ledger entries created when grants are paid out, adding an extra layer of accuracy checks to every grant.
  • Groundwork was laid for a transparent fee system, including standard fee schedules and the ability to set a specific rate per fund.
  • New account applications now go through a review and approval step by our team before accounts go live.

May 2026

Grant safeguards, smoother scheduling, a redesigned signup, and hardening from an independent security test.

Grants

Smarter safeguards on grant giving

  • Unusually large grants (high dollar amounts, or a large share of your fund's balance) are now automatically held for a quick review before money moves, protecting you from mistakes.
  • Grant statuses were renamed and clarified across the app, so it is always obvious whether a grant is drafted, in review, scheduled, or completed.
  • Grants between two Phil giving funds are now visible in your history like any other grant.
  • When you dedicate a grant "In Honor of" someone, that dedication now travels with the payment to the receiving charity.
Grants

More reliable recurring and scheduled grants

  • You can now schedule the first payment of an installment grant for the same day you create it.
  • Recurring grants became significantly more dependable: duplicate payments are prevented, grants that hit a snag recover automatically, and payouts wait for contributed shares to finish settling before they fire.
  • Canceling a grant or a payment is clearer, and available cash calculations now account for grants that are already on their way out the door.
Getting started

A redesigned account opening experience

  • The signup flow was rebuilt from the ground up: cleaner forms, better validation, the ability to save a draft and come back later, and a proper e-signature step.
  • Closing a fund is now a guided flow with clear statuses along the way.
Security

Hardening from an independent security test

  • We completed an independent penetration test and shipped fixes for its findings.
  • Two-factor authentication was improved, sensitive actions now require re-entering your password, and we added tracking of active sessions on your account.
Investments

Clearer investment activity

  • Trading activity now shows the actual dollar amount of each trade instead of a per-share price, which makes statements far easier to read.
  • When your holdings need to be sold to fund a grant, the platform now handles that automatically (and pauses portfolio rebalancing until the payout is safely complete).
  • If a portfolio update is waiting on other activity, the app now tells you it is queued rather than leaving you guessing.