Give from your Donor Advised Funds (DAF)

Donor Advised,
Community Activated

IEF is participating in DAF DAY
Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025!

What is DAF DAY?

DAF DAY is a special day when people across the country are encouraged to recommend grants from their Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs)—a popular charitable savings account. The goal is to create a huge wave of support for nonprofits all at once.

DAF Benefits

Make a Meaningful Difference
Immediate Tax Benefits
Simplicity & Convenience
Flexibility & Strategic Grantmaking
Family Involvement/Build a Legacy
Create a Lasting Impact

Join the Movement

DAF Day is an initiative dedicated to inspiring contributions from Donor Advised Funds. When we who are passionate about elephants converge on this day, each gift serves to amplify our overall impact.

Donor Advised Funds (DAF) common questions

The content provided is for information purposes only. You should not construe any such information as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advise. All content is of general nature and does not address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity.

A DAF is a charitable investment account that allows donors to contribute cash or other assets, receive an immediate tax deduction, and then recommend grants to qualified charities over time.

DAFs are often compared to a 401(k) for retirement savings or a Health Savings Account (HSA) for healthcare expenses. You can contribute cash or assets, get the tax benefit up front (if applicable), invest the balance in the market and make grants out to nonprofits over time.

Any person, couple, family–or even company–can open a DAF account at more than 1,000 providers around the country. DAFs have surged in popularity in recent years because they are incredibly effective at increasing giving capacity and streamlining philanthropy – for donors big & small.

How DAF’s Work:

  1. Contribute: Make a tax deductible contribution of cash, securities or illiquid assets.
  2. Invest: Keep the account balance invested in the market, which grows tax-free.
  3. Distribute: Recommend cash gifts to eligible charities any time.

How DAF’s Help:

  1. Give Bigger: Tax savings & extra accountability mean more dollars for impact.
  2. Give Better: Manage donations centrally, use your DAF anywhere with DAFpay.
  3. Give Together: 69% of DAF gifts are <$1,000 – DAFs work for every budget.

DAF Day is a movement for greater DAF giving. The most powerful way to participate is to have a DAF and use it as a collective on October 9th to strengthen the missions most meaningful to you. Many DAFs have no minimum account size and minimum gift sizes are as low as $18.

There are several advantages of DAFs are that their users tend to like:

Thanks to potential tax advantages and psychological advantages of pre-committing funds to charity, DAF holders have been shown to drastically increase their giving to the causes they care about once they start using a DAF.

By centralizing giving in a DAF, you streamline and organize your philanthropy. You’re able to set goals, increase accountability and see all your donations in one place so you can save time and support more causes.

With tools like DAFpay – ApplePay for DAFs, letting you checkout with your DAF directly on donation forms – and initiatives like DAF Day, you get all the personal benefits of inspiration-based & collective giving, with the practical perks of a DAF.

The first question to ask is “What will my DAF do?” Having a good sense of your goals and intentions for your giving will help you make the best decision between a lot of great DAF options. Any DAF provider’s website will have instructions on opening an account, and the process varies from a simple mobile app, to some light paperwork.

Major DAF providers include large financial institutions like Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, and Vanguard Charitable, as well as community foundations, religious organizations, and specialized non-profits like the National Christian Foundation and the National Philanthropic Trust.

Yes!

One of the great things about DAFs is that there’s no tax consideration to make a gift out of your DAF (you got the tax benefit upfront). So you can and should use your DAF all year long, any time you’re inspired to give.