DAF website donations

Danielle Lifshitz 2

Hi,

Does anyone currently use any online options, either website links or widgets, to allow donors to process their their DAF electronically? If so, do they normally charge a percentage or is it free? Do donors actually use this option? Any suggestions of who to use?

Thanks so much.

Elizabeth Johnson

@Danielle Lifshitz You might want to check out this post.

We took our link down for reasons unrelated to it and have yet to get it back up. Thanks for the reminder I don't have any stats as to how much it was actually used.

Brett Bolden 4

@Danielle Lifshitz
When I think about this question, it doesn't seem like that would even be possible due to the nature of DAFs. When a donor gives through that channel, they are no longer the legal donor, the entity which they gave their funds to becomes the legal donor and they can only make “recommendations”. So with this in mind, I don't see how a donor would be able to make an online donation with DAF when they already gave their money to Vanguard, Schwab or the like and have already received the tax receipt/benefit.

Brett Bolden 4

@Elizabeth Johnson
I didn't even know these existed, but I really wonder how much folks would utilize it. In my mind donors that give through DAFs are already used to the process of recommending grants through whichever entity they gave their money to.

Brett Bolden 4

@Brett Bolden: I stand corrected, the widgets seem to just take you to your DAF log-in, so I don't know…seems like an extra step if folks are already used to going to their portal first.

@Danielle Lifshitz
When I think about this question, it doesn't seem like that would even be possible due to the nature of DAFs. When a donor gives through that channel, they are no longer the legal donor, the entity which they gave their funds to becomes the legal donor and they can only make “recommendations”. So with this in mind, I don't see how a donor would be able to make an online donation with DAF when they already gave their money to Vanguard, Schwab or the like and have already received the tax receipt/benefit.

Madeleine Holdsworth

@Brett Bolden
You are correct. The money is now the DAFs not the donors. However, the DAF holder (Fidelity, Schwab etc) can set up electronic transfer. A Fidelity rep told me about it this summer when I was trying to identify an ACH deposit from Fidelity. Here is the link: www.fidelitycharitable.org/nonprofits/eft.html

When a fund transfer hits your account, they send an email with a .csv file which contains the DAF information. So much easier all around. I'm sure the other charitable funds have something like this as well…or they should.

Brett Bolden 4

@Madeleine Holdsworth Thanks for the info!

Sheila Wortham

@Madeleine Holdsworth At the company I work for. We utilize Thrivent and Fidelity, who make direct deposits into our accounts. Fidelity sends us a csv file including a list of the contributors. The ACH is often obtained the following day or shortly thereafter. The ACH may be reconciled using the donor's Fidelity gift ID. I hope this is helpful.