The Nonprofit Sector Participates in Inaugural DAF Day

Earlier this month, the nonprofit sector organized a national giving day to raise awareness for donor-advised funds (DAFs). The event, dubbed DAF Day, took place on Oct. 10. Here’s an overview of how the inaugural event for this popular giving method went.

An underutilized but growing channel, DAFs hold $230 billion. Nonprofits have reported DAF revenue has increased 214% since 2019, according to Chariot’s “2024 DAF Fundraising Report.” Meanwhile, half of those same organizations surveyed reported declines across non-DAF revenue.

Though more-detailed results have not been released yet, The Donors’ Fund, an online DAF, reported its daily giving increased by four times on DAF Day, resulting in a $3 million surge. Meanwhile, Daffy, a mobile-first DAF provider, saw a 440% increase in daily donations on DAF Day.

"We were thrilled to see the surge in engagement surrounding DAF Day,” Adam Nash, co-founder and CEO of Daffy, said in a statement. “This industry-wide initiative not only highlighted the power of DAFs in increasing individual giving, but also aligned perfectly with our mission: to help people be more generous, more often. It gave our members a meaningful opportunity to join a larger movement and make an even greater impact.”

One hurdle to developing this revenue stream is that many of your current donors may have DAFs that your organization is unaware of. The Chariot report found that 26% of DAF donors were already giving to an organization when they made their first DAF gift.

Chariot, the payment company behind DAFpay, which allows DAF donors to checkout within a nonprofit’s donation form, organized the movement and created a marketing toolkit and other education efforts. Overall, Chariot found the number of gifts that day were 10 times the year-to-date daily median, and the dollar volume was eight times the year-to-date daily median via its payment option.

“No matter how you measure it, the level of engagement was absolutely incredible,” Mitch Stein, Chariot’s head of strategy, said in a statement. “We saw a record number of organizations getting DAF gifts through DAFpay in a single day — four times the prior high water mark, which was actually set just the day before on Oct. 9.”

The number of nonprofits that participated grew from 30 organizations, including The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, ACLU Foundation and Susan G. Komen — which signed on prior to the July 30 announcement of DAF Day — to more than 1,200 organizations by Oct. 10. To promote the giving day, nonprofits created numerous emails, texts, mailers and social media posts about DAFs.

“We were proud to participate in the first-ever DAF Day as a way to educate and inspire our community to learn more about donor-advised funds and how they can make an immediate impact on Parkinson's research, while creating a legacy of philanthropy,” Sarah Chatham, vice president and head of individual giving at The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, which was also a launch partner for DAF Day. “Like many nonprofit organizations, we have been working to build appropriate strategies that engage this fast-growing donor segment. DAF Day gave us a collective focal point to rally around – both within our organization and among DAF donors.”

The ACLU Foundation reported receiving more digital DAF gifts on Oct. 10 than it had since it began accepting digital DAF gifts. As part of a million-dollar match campaign, the average gift was $1,200.

“Giving days are incredibly motivating to our supporters,” Meghan Lee, associate director of impact giving for the ACLU, said in a statement. “As we’ve watched the rapid increase in DAF usage over the past few years, it made perfect sense for us to partner in a giving day dedicated to this critical donor segment.”

A top DAF gift recipient prior to Oct. 10, Susan G. Komen doubled its prior daily total by further activating donors during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“DAF giving has become a core part of our overall fundraising strategy,” Trish Davis, Susan G. Komen’s vice president of major gifts and planned giving, said in a statement. “Combining the technology of DAFpay with an exciting and collective movement in DAF Day is clearly spurring a new wave of DAF giving — one that nonprofits everywhere are in desperate need of.”

If your nonprofit hasn’t already begun promoting your organization’s acceptance of DAF gifts, now is the time to do so and to plan to participate in the next DAF Day, scheduled for Oct. 9, 2025.