Kickoff for the 2026 DAF Fundraising Report
- Mitch Stein
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
What you missed from the 2026 DFR Kickoff Webinar, and what your organization needs to do to participate.
Yesterday, hundreds of nonprofit leaders joined us for the kickoff of the 2026 DAF Fundraising Report—the only large-scale research on nonprofits’ own DAF giving data.
The session focused on what you need to do to get involved, the benefits of participating, the data and formatting requirements, and the key deadlines for joining the study.
Any organization interested in joining must review the kickoff session and submit their application by January 15, 2026.
Building on the Success of the 2025 Report
Since the first DAF Fundraising Report launched in 2024, the project has grown into a cornerstone resource for understanding the role of Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) in nonprofit fundraising.
Following the success of the 2025 Report, which was downloaded by thousands of nonprofit and DAF leaders, the research team — led by Chariot, K2D Strategies, AKwire and Gambit Analytics — is expanding both the scale and scope of the 2026 study.
We’re also kicking off the process earlier to help participating organizations get organized and gain actionable insights sooner.
Benefits of Participating
Be part of the movement: Join hundreds of nonprofits shaping how the sector understands DAF fundraising.
Organize your data: Access resources, templates, and data quality tests you can use to clean up your DAF data and ensure a strong tracking strategy moving forward.
Showcase your success: Participating organizations receive visibility in a national report used by fundraisers, researchers, and DAF providers alike.
Participation Requirements
To take part in the 2026 study, organizations will need to:
Gather five years of individual giving data (2021-2025), with all DAF gifts clearly marked.
Run the Data Quality Check tests (shared in the kickoff session) to ensure your data is clean and consistent before sharing it.
Submit your data in the templatized format (accessible in the slides and recording) with unique donor IDs applied — no personally identifiable information (PII) is collected.
Key Deadlines
January 15, 2026: Review the 2026 DFR Kickoff recording and submit your application.
February 15, 2026: Submit your organization’s data following the provided template and instructions found in the recording and slides.
Helpful Resource
To make participation easier, we’ve collected these tools and guides to help you get started and see success:
Leverage our DAF Provider Directory, a comprehensive list of DAF providers, to help organizations clean up your DAF naming conventions.
Run these 5 tests to check your data for quality and make your life easier during the busy giving season.
Questions?
For any questions about data submission or participation, contact Imran Ali at iali@k2dstrategies.com.
This initiative sounds incredibly valuable — especially the emphasis on clean, structured data. It reminds me a bit of how precision works in Geometry Dash Lite: every jump and movement needs to be perfectly timed to reach the goal. In the same way, getting DAF data accurate and consistent feels like the key to making fundraising strategies “jump” smoothly from insight to action. Excited to see the results of the 2026 study!
The characters in Sprunki each represent specific musical elements, such as drums, bass, melody, or vocals, which blend harmoniously when activated.