# The DAF Donor You Already Have (and Why Your File Can't See Them)

The check names the fund's sponsor. The relationship is with the person who recommended the grant.

## Key takeaways
- Donor-advised funds granted $64.60 billion to charities in fiscal year 2024, up 17.9% in one year (DAF Research Collaborative, Annual DAF Report 2025).
- A DAF gift arrives as a check or transfer from the sponsoring organization, the legal donor of record, so a CRM that records only the payer loses the person who recommended the gift.
- There are 3.59 million DAF accounts holding $327.87 billion in assets, money already set aside for charity and waiting to be granted.
- Unless the donor chose anonymity, the grant letter names the fund, which is usually enough to identify, tag, and soft-credit the recommending donor in your file.
- A DAF donor needs no tax receipt, because the deduction happened when they funded the account. The right response is a prompt thank-you addressed to the person, not the sponsor.

Some of the people on your donor file already give through donor-advised funds, and the file itself may not show it. A DAF grant arrives as a check or transfer from the sponsoring organization, which is the legal donor of record, so a CRM that records only the payer books the gift under the sponsor's name and loses the person who recommended it. That person chose your organization, and the money involved is large: grants from donor-advised funds to charities reached $64.60 billion in fiscal year 2024, up 17.9% in one year, according to the [Annual DAF Report](https://www.dafresearchcollaborative.org/research/annual-daf-report) from the DAF Research Collaborative.

## How big is donor-advised fund giving?

Large, and growing on every measure the Annual DAF Report tracks. Fiscal year 2024 is the most recent sector-wide reporting, built from IRS filings across 1,512 sponsoring organizations: 103 national sponsors, 803 community foundations, and 606 single-issue charities. Contributions into DAFs grew faster than grants out of them, which means the pool of committed charitable dollars keeps deepening.

Donor-advised funds in fiscal year 2024 (DAF Research Collaborative, Annual DAF Report 2025)

| Measure | Fiscal year 2024 | Change from prior year |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Grants to charities | $64.60 billion | +17.9% |
| Contributions into DAFs | $90.57 billion | +38.6% |
| Assets held in accounts | $327.87 billion | +27.9% |
| Number of DAF accounts | 3.59 million | record high |
| Average account size | $91,300 | +8.0% |
| Payout rate | 25.2% | +1.4 points |

**$64.60B** — granted from donor-advised funds to charities in fiscal year 2024, up 17.9% in one year ([DAF Research Collaborative, Annual DAF Report 2025](https://www.dafresearchcollaborative.org/research/annual-daf-report))

The growth continues at the largest sponsors. National Philanthropic Trust, one sponsor among 1,512, reported its own donor-recommended grants grew 20% in fiscal year 2025 to exceed [$6.6 billion](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-philanthropic-trust-donor-recommended-grants-to-charities-grow-20-in-fy-2025-to-exceed-6-6-billion-302625875.html). None of this money is a maybe. Every dollar in a DAF has already left the donor's hands and can only ever go to charity. The open question is which organizations receive it, and whether yours can even tell when it does.

## Why are DAF gifts invisible in your donor file?

Because the legal donor and the actual relationship are two different parties. When a donor recommends a grant, the sponsoring organization approves it and sends the money under its own name. The gift processor sees a check from a sponsor, creates or reuses a donor record for that sponsor, and books the gift there. Do that faithfully for a year and the file shows one large, generous institution where there are actually five, ten, or forty individual households.

The damage compounds for donors who use both rails. A household that wrote personal checks for years and then opens a DAF now exists twice in your file: once as themselves, with a giving history that abruptly stops, and once folded into a sponsor record they share with strangers. Retention math reads the stopped history as a lapse. Lifetime value math splits one relationship across two records and understates both. The person, meanwhile, is giving more than ever.

> **One relationship, two payment rails**
>
> A donor who switches from personal checks to DAF grants has not lapsed, upgraded, or disappeared. They changed payment rails. A file that tracks the rail instead of the person will misread that switch as attrition, and every retention and lifetime value figure built on that file inherits the error.

There is one honest gap: donors can choose to grant anonymously, and those gifts cannot be traced to a person. But unless the donor chose anonymity, the grant letter that accompanies the check names the fund, often something like a family fund named for the donor, and frequently includes the advisor's name and address. The information to identify your donor usually arrives with the gift. It just never makes it past the deposit.

## How do you spot the DAF givers you already have?

This is file work, not fundraising, and one afternoon usually covers it:

1. Search your gift records for sponsor names. The national sponsors and your local community foundation account for most DAF grants, and their names are distinctive in a gift log.
2. Pull the grant letters for every gift you find. Unless the donor chose anonymity, the letter names the fund and often the advisor behind it.
3. Match each fund to a person. A family fund named for the donor usually matches an existing record. Where it does not, you have found a donor you never knew you had.
4. Record each grant with the sponsor as the legal donor and a soft credit to the person who recommended it, so their full giving history reads as one relationship.
5. Add a DAF flag to each identified donor, so future grants route to the right record and future appeals can speak to how they actually give.

## How do you steward a DAF donor?

Thank the person, promptly and by name. A DAF donor needs no tax receipt from you, because their deduction happened when they contributed to the account, so drop the deduction language and write the letter a human wants to read: what their grant made possible, addressed to them, not to a sponsor's processing office. The mechanics of the thank-you matter less than the fact that it reaches the right person at all.

Then make giving this way easy to repeat. Mention donor-advised funds in appeals and on your donation page, so the DAF givers you have not yet identified can recognize themselves and the ones you have can act without friction. Keep your organization's name and address current with the sponsors you see most, because a misaddressed grant is a gift that never arrives.

**$327.87B** — sits in donor-advised fund accounts, already committed to charity and waiting to be granted ([DAF Research Collaborative, Annual DAF Report 2025](https://www.dafresearchcollaborative.org/research/annual-daf-report))

## What is a DAF giver worth to a small organization?

No public report prices a DAF donor the way retention studies price a monthly donor, so the honest answer starts from what is verified: the average account holds $91,300, sponsors paid out 25.2% of assets in grants in fiscal year 2024, and contributions into DAFs grew 38.6% while grants out grew 17.9%. A person with a DAF has organized their giving deliberately and funded it in advance. The dollars are committed. Your only competition is every other organization they could recommend.

Sector-wide donor retention sat at 43.3% in 2025, per the [Fundraising Effectiveness Project](https://afpglobal.org/news/fundraising-effectiveness-project-reports-strongest-revenue-growth-five-years-even-fewer), which makes a donor with money already set aside for charity exactly the donor you want inside the retained half. You cannot steward a person your file cannot see. Donor Insights reads your contacts and gifts and joins a donor's giving into one history across payment rails, so the household behind the sponsor checks shows up as what they are: one relationship. The [methodology](https://donorinsights.com/methodology) starts from your own giving records, and the [platform](https://donorinsights.com/platform) tracks each donor's full history over time.

## FAQ

**What is a donor-advised fund?**

A giving account held at a sponsoring organization. The donor contributes money or assets, takes the tax deduction at that moment, and then recommends grants to charities over time. The sponsor legally controls the money and sends the grants.

**Who is the legal donor of a DAF gift?**

The sponsoring organization. The person who recommended the grant is the fund's advisor, not the donor of record. Your file should carry both: the sponsor as the legal donor and a soft credit to the person, because the relationship is with the person.

**Should we send a tax receipt for a DAF grant?**

No. The donor took their deduction when they funded the account, and a receipt implying a new deductible gift is wrong. Send a warm acknowledgment to the person instead, without deduction language.

**How do we find the DAF gifts already in our file?**

Search gift records for sponsor names, national sponsors and community foundations especially, then pull the grant letters. Unless the donor gave anonymously, the letter names the fund and often the advisor. Tag the gift as a DAF grant and soft-credit the person.

**Can our donors give to us from any donor-advised fund?**

Almost always. The Annual DAF Report counts 1,512 sponsoring organizations, and donors recommend grants from their sponsor's portal by looking up the charity. Keep your organization's name and address current so grants are not misrouted.

## Sources
- [DAF Research Collaborative, Annual DAF Report 2025 (fiscal year 2024 data)](https://www.dafresearchcollaborative.org/research/annual-daf-report)
- [National Philanthropic Trust, donor-recommended grants exceed $6.6 billion in FY2025 (press release)](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-philanthropic-trust-donor-recommended-grants-to-charities-grow-20-in-fy-2025-to-exceed-6-6-billion-302625875.html)
- [Fundraising Effectiveness Project, Q4 2025 report (2025 data)](https://afpglobal.org/news/fundraising-effectiveness-project-reports-strongest-revenue-growth-five-years-even-fewer)

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Source: DonorInsights.com — https://donorinsights.com/articles/daf-donors