How to cultivate, convert and grow DAF donor giving across your fundraising team
The vast majority of organizations do not have a stewardship plan for donors using Donor Advised Funds (DAFs). Since there are over $250 billion in DAFs already committed to giving, it represents the biggest opportunity for nonprofits - that is largely untapped for most organizations. This article covers the many ways that fundraising teams can align on maximizing DAF giving, informed by Chariot’s webinar conversation “Proper Stewardship for DAF Donors” on December 17, 2025, featuring:
Shayla Titley, Director of Patron & Program Services for The Public Theater
Trish Davis, VP of Major & Planned Giving for Susan G. Komen
Mitch Stein, Head of Strategy for Chariot
In this session, Shayla and Trish shared what they’ve learned from their journeys, focusing on five different steps to creating an effective stewardship experience for DAF donors:
Be a DAF champion
Educate your team
Make your website and materials DAF-donor friendly
Develop a follow-up process specific to DAF donors
Re-solicit your DAF donors – thoughtfully
1. Be a Champion
While DAF giving is now a part of every fundraiser’s job, organizations see the most success with their DAF strategies when there is at least one person passionately advocating for DAF giving internally. That person can also be in a wide variety of roles at an organization: major gifts, direct response, events, digital, etc. If you’re wondering who the Champion at your organization is… it could likely be you.
Champions like Shayla and Trish bring the energy and focus that organizations need to engage with DAF giving effectively. While DAFs are not new, integrating DAF giving across all team members and giving experiences is very new. It requires a mindset shift and some upfront work to implement changes. Your organization’s champion will help keep the team motivated through that transition to see the many payoffs over time.
“It wasn’t hard to get leadership to buy in…now it’s just an ongoing conversation of showing the wins when we have them, and it’s going great!”
“It wasn’t hard to get leadership to buy in…now it’s just an ongoing conversation of showing the wins when we have them, and it’s going great!” - Trish Davis
2. Educate your team
Your entire team should be fluent in DAFs. That shows up differently in different roles. Major gifts fundraisers need to be comfortable discussing DAFs in 1x1 conversations. Direct response folks need to be able to write effectively about DAF giving in email or mail communications. Technology folks need to be familiar with Digital DAF giving capabilities. Gift processors need to be well-versed in DAF data nuances. Once your whole organization is comfortable with DAFs, they will all be able to spot more opportunities in their specific roles.
An easy first step that everyone on your team can take is to make sure they are plugged into the flow of updates and educational opportunities related to DAFs. Chariot provides the most frequent and in-depth resources on DAF fundraising in the industry - so following our work is an easy first step:
Sign up for Chariot’s bi-weekly newsletter
Follow Chariot on LinkedIn
Follow Mitch Stein, Chariot’s head of strategy, who shares near-daily updates on the DAF market
A good next step is sharing specific resources internally and making time to discuss the implications on various fundraising teams’ strategy. Chariot’s blog is chock full of analysis that is worth digging into further, but here are the key concepts that are most critical for everyone to be familiar with: the what, the who, the how, the why of DAFs.
What:
A donor advised fund, or a DAF, is a charitable giving account that allows donors to contribute assets, receive an immediate tax deduction, and recommend grants to their favorite nonprofits over time.
Donors can designate a grant to any qualified nonprofit organization. Note however, that grants cannot be used to obtain any tangible personal benefit, like event tickets, gala tables, etc.
DAFs have become a preferred vehicle for giving because they can offer substantial tax benefits, they are proven to significantly increase someone’s giving capacity and they streamline the admin work of philanthropy.
Learn more DAF basics here.
Who:
There are a wide variety of donors who take advantage of DAFs, but generally these are highly intentional donors. They tend to be wealthier, more frequent, and more engaged givers.
Although Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) have traditionally been associated with the ultra-wealthy, DAF donors come from a diverse range of income levels.
While the average gift made through DAFpay, Chariot’s DAF-payment option, is $1,000, the median gift is actually $200. This highlights the wide range of gift amounts granted by DAF donors, especially in the digital setting.
While it’s not our role to advise donors on whether to use a DAF, educating them about how this giving vehicle works can provide significant value to the donor and deepen your relationship. Plus, donors who use a DAF are proven to double their giving to your organization, on average, according to the DAF Fundraising Report.
Learn more about DAF donors here.
How:
If your organization offers DAFpay as a payment option, then DAF donors can use their DAF to support you in 3 clicks. If they are going through their DAF portal, they will have to navigate through several extra steps, including looking up your organization either by your legal name or EIN.
This process presents three key challenges the team should all be mindful of:
The several extra steps without DAFpay can reduce conversion
The “look up” step can result in donor confusion or, at worse, gifts to the wrong organization.
Your organization won’t know the gift was submitted until it arrives, which can take several weeks.
Your team can curb these risks by making your EIN and legal name very clear to donors when you’re talking about DAF giving and adding DAFpay for fully connected DAF giving experiences.
Shayla shared how her organization is known to the public as The Public Theater, but their legal name with the IRS is The New York Shakespeare Festival. That’s why investing in better DAF donor communication and giving experience has been such a priority - and successful strategy.
Why:
DAFs are a huge fundraising opportunity that most organizations are not maximizing. Donors with DAFs are different and deserve a focused strategy. They have precommitted a pool of funds for philanthropy that can’t be used for any purpose except giving. Think about them like someone with a gift card going shopping - they are looking for things to buy. DAF donors are looking for things to support and when they give, it isn’t “competing” with the rest of their budget like a credit card gift would.
The big opportunity is that most DAF donors still make gifts outside of their DAF. A recent donor survey by Giving Compass and The Lilly School of Philanthropy found that 37% of DAF donors didn’t use their DAF for their most recent gift.
Why don’t DAF donors use their DAF?
Most often, Donors assume it will take a long time to go through all the steps on their DAF portal, so just make a faster credit card gift - especially when DAFpay isn’t present.
DAF donors aren’t always experts on where they can and can’t use their DAF, but they do know there are some restrictions that can make them hesitant.
Some folks can genuinely forget they have a DAF available - especially if it’s managed by their spouse or financial advisor.
The opportunity lies in reminding folks to use their DAF and making it easy!
3. Make your website and materials DAF-donor friendly
Once you have your organization on board, DAF donor stewardship really starts with getting their first DAF gift. Incorporating DAF giving into all of your donor touchpoints makes sure none of those DAF gifts fall through the cracks. A few items on your checklist:
Website: Make sure you have a dedicated page for Donor Advised Fund details, most importantly your EIN, official legal name and a point of contact.
Check out these great examples from The Public Theater and Susan G. Komen
Campaigns: At a minimum include language and a clear CTA for using a DAF in any donation form or campaign that is DAF eligible.
Shayla shared a recent example where she advised her team to add language on DAF giving and a link to their DAF page to a capital campaign mailer. It clarified that this campaign was DAF eligible and they’ve seen incredible success with donor upgrades and first-time DAF donors.
Peer-to-Peer: DAFpay’s most successful use case thus far has been in peer-to-peer fundraising, so this should be a high priority for any P2P fundraisers.
Trish talked about the “lightbulb moment” donors have had when they see DAFpay on Komen’s Walks and realize they can use it to support someone’s campaign page directly.
Main Donation form: Check if your donation form provider already has a DAFpay integration you can enable, if not ask them to add it.
If DAFpay isn’t available, add language about DAF giving at a minimum.
These opportunities will vary depending on your organization’s specific fundraising tactics, but once your team starts thinking outside of the old DAF box, creative openings will emerge.
4. Develop a follow-up process specific to DAF donors
We ran a poll at the start of the webinar that confirmed a mismatch in how organizations currently steward DAF donors:
>90% have a received a DAF gift in 2024 from a first time donor
>80% have received a first-time DAF gift in 2024 from an existing donor
<20% have a specific stewardship flow for DAF gifts
While this method of giving is growing across the board, it’s key to have a specific playbook for how you engage these donors post-gift.
A few of the key differences for the DAF donor experience that you can incorporate into your playbook:
They need to get an acknowledgement, not a tax receipt
Recommending grants from a DAF is not tax deductible, only contributions to a DAF are tax deductible.
They should be a priority to thank and engage
Because DAF donor information often is not readily available, organizations don’t engage with DAF donors individually and just send thank you notes to the DAF provider. Even if it takes more work to match up a fund name with an existing donor record or follow up with the provider for more details, it should be a priority.
Research every DAF donor
Even if a DAF donor gave $100, the fact that they used their DAF is one of the most valuable indicators you can have for wealth and giving capacity. Prioritize these donors in any prospect research efforts.
Engage DAF donors like major donor prospects
Because they are so likely to be high-value donors, some of the most successful DAF fundraisers provide the full “V.I.P” experience for DAF donors. This can include personalized outreach from a leader at your organization, an invitation for a facility tour, a phone call, etc. Try to find ways to engage them more deeply in your mission before the next ask.
Their gift timing is less tax-driven
DAF giving tends to be more balanced throughout the year since gifts out of a DAF are not a tax deductible event. Messaging that highlights the urgency of year-end giving for tax purposes won’t resonate with them, but acknowledging that the markets are up significantly and their DAF balance has likely grown is much more relevant to them.
Mention their DAF in subsequent outreach
Showing a donor that you understand how they like to give goes a long way in building your relationship. Most DAF donors think about their DAF as evidence that they’ve made the smart choice with their giving so it’s good to reinforce that sentiment in your outreach.
A quick email thank you will likely blow them away
DAF donors are used to never hearing from an organization after they support them through their DAF. When they give via DAFpay, your organization has their email right away and can thank them immediately. Trish mentioned how high the engagement rate is with those thank you emails because the donor is so happy to be acknowledged for their support.
5. Re-solicit your DAF donors – thoughtfully
Many organizations are hesitant to re-solicit DAF donors more than once a year, especially if they made a substantial gift from their DAF. Trish and Shayla offered a different mindset to consider: any DAF gift is coming from a different “budget” for that donor than their checkbook. This means that they have fewer mental barriers to giving. In fact, the DAF Fundraising report found that DAF donors were more likely to give to the same organization twice in one year than a non-DAF donor.
There’s nothing wrong with making another ask in the same year for a DAF donor, but it’s important to be mindful of a few key things that will inform how you make that next ask:
What did they make their first DAF gift in response to?
If it was a response to a specific campaign (a giving day, DAF Day, Giving Tuesday, etc.), that’s a signal that they like using their DAF to participate in a collective giving moment. Highlight another opportunity to give together when making your next ask.
Have you engaged with them since their last DAF gift?
It’s important to take steps to build the relationship with a donor before your next ask. At a minimum, that means sending a thank you for the prior gift. Ideally that also includes some other communication that built the relationship.
Can you point to the specific impact of their first gift?
DAF donors typically manage their DAF account like another investment account. Therefore they often think in terms of returns on investment. Showing them how you’ve put their first contribution to good use can go a long way in making the case for their next gift.