The Fundraising Edit: The Donor-Advised Fund Edition

As you organize your closets, declutter your drawers and get to some much-needed deep cleaning, don’t forget that your fundraising program may need the same sprucing and TLC too!

Recent insight from FreeWill’s 2023 Donor-Advised Fund Report indicate that organizations that actively promoted DAFs to their donors last year received TWICE the DAF dollars than organizations that did not. So what better place to start your fundraising spring cleaning than with your donor-advised fund strategies?

If your program’s DAF strategies are a lot like that junk drawer in your kitchen – you know they would be hardworking and effective if implemented in the right way – now is the time to give them the attention they need. And we even have a checklist to help you get started (on your DAF strategies – we can’t help with that junk drawer, unfortunately)!

DAF Spring Cleaning Checklist

• Appeals

  • Find opportunities and available real estate to highlight DAF giving among the “ways to give” options.

  • Give DAF giving a more prominent feature in mid-level appeals for donors who may be more primed to use this giving vehicle. And remember – DAF gifts aren’t always the 4+ digit gifts – highlighting this type of giving on your reply devices for donors of all levels can’t hurt!

  • Don’t forget who your DAF donors are! It can be tempting to suppress this audience from some appeals but at the end of the day a DAF is a payment method, not a communication preference. Chances are, your communications are what’s driving their giving even if the gifts aren’t always tied directly back at the campaign level. Don’t let this attribution challenge keep you from including this incredibly valuable audience in your communications or you could be missing out in a big way!

•  Cultivation

  • Promote DAF giving in cultivation efforts where ways to support the mission are highlighted, including:

    • Newsletters

    • Impact reports

    • Annual reports

    • Ways to give communications

  • Consider regular DAF-specific stewardship outreach to high-value donors via postcards and direct communications.

•  Website

  • Get the free DAF Direct DAF Widget

    • Include the widget on the DAF giving page on your website.

    • The widget allows donors to recommend DAF grants directly from your website.

    • Neither you nor your donors will incur any download or transaction fees.

  •  Ensure Clear Navigation for DAF Giving

    • Include DAF giving information on relevant Ways to Give pages/navigation.

    • Include a link from your main donation form to a DAF-specific page featuring the widget as well as content promoting this giving vehicle – benefits, impact, DAF donor testimonials, etc.

    • Ensure the DAF-specific page lives at a URL that can be easily keyed or utilize an easy-to-key vanity URL.

•  Additional DAF Giving Opportunities and Considerations

  • Encourage consistent giving via DAFs – many DAF donors regularly use this method and can set up recurring gifts via their DAF. Find those who might be prime for this and make the case for setting up that automatic gift!

  • Consider including a link to your DAF page in high-value audience email footers.

  • Test stronger push for DAF giving in October-November leading up to the year-end season within high-value audiences.

  • Review communication cadence and business rules for including DAF donors in fundraising campaigns.

    • Ensure DAF donors are not being excluded from stewardship or appeals that may be prompting DAF gifts.

    • Enlist a DAF donor matchback to campaign audience files to understand greater fundraising program impact on DAF giving.

  • Ensure any DAF-giving analysis for your organization looks at not only how DAF gifts have grown over time, but also how other types of gifts may be impacted – is DAF giving largely additive or are some donors transferring their existing giving to DAFs?

If you’ve checked off all of the above, you’re well on the right track to revamp – and amp up – your DAF giving strategies!

We’d love to hear how your fundraising spring cleaning goes and talk about how DAFs are working for your program! What area of your fundraising program are you going to tidy up next?

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