Applications are open for the second edition of last year’s pioneering DAF Fundraising Report, the first-ever comparative analysis of nonprofits’ DAF data
After a groundbreaking inaugural year, K2D Strategies and Chariot are excited to announce the launch of the 2025 DAF Fundraising Report - with enhanced research capabilities and expanded scale of analysis.
Organizations can apply by submitting the interest form, with data submissions requested for review by February 28th. This article includes:
- Recap of the report origins and impact in 2024
- Goals for 2025
- Benefits of participating
- Requirements for participants
- Next Steps & Resources
The 2024 DAF Fundraising Report
Led by Mitch Stein, Head of Strategy for Chariot, and Karin Kirchoff, President & Founder of K2D Strategies, the inaugural version of this study sought to fill a critical gap in the research landscape. While Donor-Advised Funds have exploded to account for 1 in 5 dollars donated each year in the US, the only analysis available on this payment method was on data from DAF providers themselves. No one had ever attempted meaningful comparative analysis of nonprofits’ data on DAF gifts.
K2D and Chariot partnered with 20 leading nonprofit organizations to answer key questions in the inaugural report:
1. How has DAF giving stack up compared to other forms of giving?
2. What does DAF donor behavior look like in comparison to non-DAF donors?
3. What changes for a donor when they start using a DAF?
With a collective dataset of over 78 million transactions and $11 billion in revenue over 5 years, the report unearthed fascinating discoveries that were only possible with this unique data. Most notably, across over 16,000 examples of donors switching to DAF giving from another payment method in prior years, increased their support of the same organization by 96% annually, on average.
The findings were reported on by major media outlets - Barrons, Axios, Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Nonprofit Times, Candid - and presented to thousands of fundraisers through major conferences - Bridge, Raise, BBCon, the DAF Giving Summit, DMAW. The results also were a foundational element of the DAF Day movement, the first-ever sector-wide giving day focused on DAFs that took place on October 10th, 2024 with 1,000+ nonprofits involved.
The 2025 DAF Fundraising Report
We have big plans for this year’s study, including:
1. Increasing the number of participants
2. Expanding the types of organizations involved
3. Enhancing analytics to reveal more specific trends in donor type, org type, etc.
This will be made possible in large part thanks to our new official data partner AKwire, who will be leading the data management and analytics for the expanded study. Their team, led by industry veteran Kate Hollandsworth, brings decades of nonprofit analytics experience to this movement.
We want to ensure this year’s report covers more questions, reaches more fundraisers and has a much deeper impact on the sector to level up DAF fundraising capabilities.
Benefits of Participating
As the first edition of the report made very clear, DAF giving is drastically outpacing all other forms of giving and quickly changing the revenue make up at most organizations. To ensure nonprofits don’t fall behind this trend, an intentional DAF strategy is required. This study can play a critical role in that strategy for organizations that want:
1. A free, professional analysis of their historical giving trends
2. A consultative review of DAF data tracking practices
3. An understanding of how their results compare to their peer group
The DAF Fundraising Report is a completely unique opportunity in our sector that will surely pay dividends for your team.
Requirements
There are a few requirements for participation:
1. DAF gifts have to be consistently coded in your database.
2. All PII needs to be masked with unique donor IDs (no identifying donor details should be shared).
3. Your DAF Revenue in 2024 should be at least $250,000 and your total revenue from individual giving should be at least $1,000,000.
4. Historical giving data available for 2020 - 2024.
Next Steps & Resources
Any interested organizations should go ahead and apply as soon as possible. The 2025 interest form should take no more than a few minutes to complete.
After applying, you will receive more detailed instructions on data submission procedures. Please note that data submissions are requested by Friday February 28th.
If you have any questions at all, please join one of the 3 upcoming office hours with Mitch Stein:
For more detailed instructions on data expectations, please reference this guide on DAF coding best practices
You can also download a directory of standardized DAF provider names here to help clean up your file.
About K2D
K2D Strategies works exclusively with nonprofits making the world a better place with a simple approach: deliver impactful engagement and development strategies and provide extraordinary client services. K2D Strategies offers award-winning, full-service, data-driven, integrated, online and offline direct response program management for nonprofits including the Center for Reproductive Rights, Save the Redwoods League, and Make-A-Wish America.
About Chariot
Chariot is the payments company dedicated to Donor Advised Fund (DAF) giving. DAFpay, Chariot’s 3-click DAF payment option, allows donors to give with their DAF anywhere they are inspired to give online. This enables donors to use their DAF in more places, more often, and unlocks more DAF gifts with better information for nonprofits. Chariot powers direct DAF payments for many of the largest nonprofits in the country, such as the American Cancer Society, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
About AKwire
AKwire's mission is to support the nonprofit community by turning data into impact with a team of industry leaders. AKwire connects the data and key stakeholders to create a shared understanding of donor performance and potential working with teams to develop long-term revenue forecasts with strategic investment plans, donor improvement targets, and pipeline migration that moves donors up to higher giving levels to achieve organization-wide growth goals.
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