Foundant now has integrated DAFpay capability for CommunitySuite clients. Here’s how to give fund advisors access with the click of a button.
Background on DAFpay
DAFpay is the donor-advised fund payment option that is live on tens of thousands of nonprofit donation forms, campaign pages, and websites. A TIME “best inventions” of 2025, DAFpay lets a DAF fundholder “checkout” with their donor-advised fund across the internet right at the moment of inspiration - without navigating away from the nonprofit’s giving experience.
Value of DAFpay
For DAF Sponsors, access to DAFpay means your fund advisors have more ways to submit grant requests, which increases their utilization of their DAF account and the value of your DAF offering. It also benefits nonprofits who can seamlessly prompt DAF giving within their fundraising, connect DAF gifts to their exact use (a giving day, bike ride, etc.), and ultimately raise more critical funds from the fastest growing vehicle in philanthropy.
How DAFpay is better via Foundant
Foundant, the leading provider of software for the social good ecosystem, now offers a DAFpay integration for their US based CommunitySuite clients. This integration enables donors to securely make grant recommendations from their DAF, directly from a nonprofit’s website. With this new integration, CommunitySuite clients are in full control of enabling DAFpay, ensuring all data passes through a secure direct API integration. In turn, donors have a seamless DAF giving experience including biometrics login access (e.g. Face ID) and fewer clicks. DAF giving can truly be easier with DAFpay, through Foundant’s advanced integration.
DAFpay is limited to only facilitating the submission of grant requests. It does not change anything about how a CommunitySuite client reviews, approves, and disburses grants to nonprofits. It actually provides an additional source of diligence information with the ability to look up the exact URL of the page where the gift was initiated. This is available on the dashboard of your Chariot Account*, if you choose to claim that account.
Steps to Enable
In your Foundant CommunitySuite Portal, go to the DAFpay tab and select “Enable DAFpay.”
Enablement means that your fundholders will be able to click on DAFpay on nonprofit donation forms where it is present, select your foundation, and “checkout” with DAFpay. That is, submit a grant request without separately logging into their portal and taking extra steps.
Enablement makes DAFpay available to your fund advisors from a nonprofit’s website, but it doesn't establish the connection automatically. The first time a fundholder encounters DAFpay, they will “connect” their account to DAFpay to securely submit grant requests. Each fundholder independently chooses whether to connect their own account and can disconnect it at any time within their CommunitySuite portal.
Each subsequent time a fund advisor uses DAFpay, they can donate in one click without having to reconnect their account.
What does a DAFpay Connection Entail for fund advisors?
The fund advisor authorizes a secure, encrypted connection between their CommunitySuite fund and DAFpay. They review and approve exactly what the connection allows before it is created.
Once connected, DAFpay can, on that fund advisor's behalf:
- Display their fund name
- Confirm available funds for grantmaking
- Submit grant recommendations they initiate
- Check the status of those recommendations
DAFpay cannot move money and cannot act on its own. Every recommendation starts with the fundholder’s action and comes to your staff for review, approval and disbursement as normal.
Cost of DAFpay
There is no cost for foundations to enable DAFpay via Foundant, nor any charge to fundholders to utilize the service. Foundant is not paid by Chariot or any other parties for DAFpay.
Nonprofits pay for DAFpay because of the positive impact on their fundraising. Nonprofits either have a subscription with Chariot that includes fee-free DAFpay gifts, or they have no upfront cost and pay a transaction fee on DAFpay gifts through their existing fundraising platform (in-line with other payment options, typically 2.9%). These transaction fees are shown in the donation form’s check out when applicable and often include the ability for a donor to “round up” their gift size to cover the fee.
*Chariot is a financial technology company, not a bank. Chariot Deposit Accounts are a Demand Deposit Account provided by Column N.A., Member FDIC. The Chariot Deposit Account is required to access Disbursements or Gift Processing. FDIC deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured depository institution. While Chariot is not an FDIC-insured depository institution, deposits in Chariot Deposit Accounts are eligible for FDIC insurance up to $250,000 per depositor, for each insurable capacity in which the account is held.
