How Digital DAF Giving Is Reshaping Nonprofit Fundraising
- Mitch Stein
- 7 days ago
- 4 min read
For years, donor-advised funds (DAFs) were seen as a tool for offline, major gifts—slow-moving, paperwork-heavy, and primarily used by wealthy donors. But in 2025, that perception has become extremely outdated. With $250 billion already committed to giving through DAFs and nearly $55 billion granted out in 2023, nonprofits have a powerful opportunity to make this generosity flow even more seamlessly into their digital campaigns.
That was the theme of our recent DAF Awareness Week webinar, The Digital Age of DAF Fundraising, where leaders from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, CauseMatch, GiveCampus, and GoFundMe discussed how digital DAF giving is reshaping donor behavior and unlocking new opportunities for fundraisers.
From Offline Checks to DAFpay
Historically, DAF donations meant phone calls, mailed checks, and long delays. For fundraisers, that often resulted in late crediting, missed stewardship windows, and donor frustration.
Today, with DAFpay, giving from a donor-advised fund is as simple as selecting Apple Pay or PayPal at checkout. Nonprofits can now embed DAF as a payment option directly on their digital donation forms, eliminating friction and unlocking larger gifts.
“It’s as easy for a donor to give by DAF as it is by credit card. That’s a revolution in philanthropy.” - Jeremy Stern, CauseMatch
Why Friction Matters
Inspiration-based giving—like giving days, peer-to-peer campaigns, crowdfunding, or crisis response—relies on urgency. Until recently, donors with DAFs often defaulted to credit cards in these moments, leaving their larger, pre-committed funds untapped. As recent DAF Donor surveys by the DAF Research Collaborative and Giving Compass revealed, DAF donors regularly give outside their DAF–especially for inspiration-based giving.
Brandy Reppy of Memorial Sloan Kettering shared how difficult this was during Cycle for Survival: “Participants wouldn’t see their donations reflected for weeks, which meant recognition, leaderboards, and stewardship moments were lost.”
With DAFpay, those delays vanish. Donations are acknowledged instantly, participants see progress right away, and nonprofits can steward in real time.
This dynamic was captured perfectly by Jen Risher, philanthropist and founder of Half My DAF, in a clip we shared during the session:
Risher explained that if giving with her DAF wasn’t easy, she would often default to a quick $100 credit card gift—when she might have given $1,000 through her DAF if it were available at checkout.
The Psychology of DAF Giving
The behavioral shift between credit card giving and DAF giving is powerful.
“The beauty of DAF giving is that it separates the pain of giving from the joy of giving. The money is already set aside, so making the gift feels like spending store credit—it’s pure joy.” Jeremy Stern
That “store credit” effect leads to larger donations:
On CauseMatch, the average DAFpay gift is three times larger than a credit card donation.
On GiveCampus, DAFpay gifts average $2,500, and 20% of donors upgrade their gift once they see their DAF balance.
Beyond the Dollars
The benefits of digital DAF giving extend beyond bigger gifts:
Better stewardship: Donors receive instant confirmation.
Improved prospecting: A DAF gift is one of the strongest wealth signals for future giving.
Cross-channel activation: QR codes on postcards or links in emails can now route directly to DAF-enabled forms.
“The upside is more than just increasing peer-to-peer gifts. The technology has changed how our entire organization talks about DAFs at every giving level.” - Brandy Reppy, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
A Strategic Imperative for Nonprofits
GoFundMe’s Amanda Brown-Lierman emphasized the difference DAF integration made in disaster response: “When you lower friction for donors, the money flows—and it flows quickly.”
That urgency was echoed by GiveCampus’s Billy Tabrizi: “Nonprofits need to meet donors where they are. The schools that turned on DAFpay are finding new donors, bigger gifts, and better conversations.”
The Present and Future of DAF Giving
Digital DAF giving isn’t just another feature—it’s a fundamental shift in how generosity is expressed. With billions already committed to charitable giving through DAFs, organizations that make DAFpay available aren’t just adding a button. They’re creating a seamless pathway for donors to act on their inspiration, give at higher levels, and stay more connected to their mission.
“The more we can expose DAF opportunities, the better off our organizations will be.” Brandy Reppy, Memorial Sloan Kettering
Join the Movement on DAF Day
One of the best opportunities to put these ideas into practice is DAF Day, coming up on October 9, 2025. DAF Day is a nationwide effort to inspire donors to use their donor-advised funds in support of the causes they care about most.
By participating, nonprofits can:
Highlight Digital DAF payment as a giving option - either on your forms or on the DAF Day Giving Page - and make generosity frictionless.
Tap into a coordinated campaign that raises awareness among donors and utilize the marketing toolkit for easy activation.
Join a movement of peers who are working to unlock billions in charitable potential.
Regardless of your experience with DAF giving, DAF Day is the perfect occasion to take steps forward and capitalize on the national focus on Donor Advised Funds!
To learn more and join the movement, visit DAFDay.com.