Donor-advised fund
A charitable account a donor funds upfront for the tax deduction, then recommends grants from over time.
A donor-advised fund, or DAF, holds money a donor has already given away for tax purposes but has not yet sent to a working charity. The donor takes the deduction when the money goes in, then recommends grants out of the account over the following years.
The accounts are held by a sponsor: the charitable arm of a financial firm such as Fidelity, Schwab or Vanguard, a community foundation, or a faith-based fund. Donor-advised funds are the fastest-growing part of US giving, and money can sit in one for years before reaching an operating charity.
See it in the data
Related terms
Questions and answers
- What is a donor-advised fund?
- A charitable account a donor funds upfront for the tax deduction, then recommends grants from over time. A donor-advised fund, or DAF, holds money a donor has already given away for tax purposes but has not yet sent to a working charity. The donor takes the deduction when the money goes in, then recommends grants out of the account over the following years.
More from the funding graph
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars pass through an intermediary
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
Strange bedfellows
the named clusters of US funding
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines