First-Ever DAF Day Successfully Kicks Off Giving Season, Participants See Everything From $3 Million Increases to Their Biggest Giving Day Ever

Barchart · 10/15 10:07

Chariot, the Donor Advised Fund (DAF) payments company, has announced preliminary results of the first DAF Day. October 10th was the first national giving day dedicated to DAFs, with a goal of boosting usage and adoption of this essential giving vehicle that has been proven to drastically increase donation volume for individuals. Many of the 1,250+ participating organizations have already reported record-breaking raises and levels of participation.

The Donor’s Fund, a Donor Advised Fund that recently surpassed $1 billion in total grant volume, saw their daily giving increase by 4x on DAF Day, resulting in a $3 million surge. Daffy, a high-growth, mobile-first DAF provider, saw a 440% increase in daily donations on DAF Day. "We were thrilled to see the surge in engagement surrounding DAF Day,” added Adam Nash, Co-Founder and CEO of Daffy. “This industry-wide initiative not only highlighted the power of DAFs in increasing individual giving but also aligned perfectly with our mission—to help people be more generous, more often. It gave our members a meaningful opportunity to join a larger movement and make an even greater impact.”

Chariot was the organizing force behind the DAF Day movement, equipping all participants with a robust marketing toolkit and educational webinar series. These efforts led to millions of emails, texts, mailers and social media impressions about Donor Advised Funds to the donating public. Chariot also provided many participating nonprofits with DAFpay technology leading up to October 10th. DAFpay enables an “express checkout” experience for DAF donors within a nonprofit’s donation forms akin to Google Pay or Apple Pay.

While a more complete picture of DAF Day’s impact will take some time to assess – most DAF giving still happens “offline” from over 1,100 DAFs to more than 1 million nonprofits – early indications are that the first year of this grassroots effort sparked tremendous results. “No matter how you measure it, the level of engagement was absolutely incredible,” shares Mitch Stein, Chariot’s Head of Strategy who spearheaded the initiative. “We saw a record number of organizations getting DAF Gifts through DAFpay in a single day, 4x the prior high water mark - which was actually set just the day before on October 9th!”

Participating nonprofits deployed a wide variety of tactics to boost DAF donor giving on DAF Day – from a Wall Street Journal advertisement for Doctors Without Borders, to Google ad words for Candid, to a million-dollar match campaign by the ACLU Foundation.

As word got out about the DAF Day, the number of organizations participating grew exponentially: 40 nonprofits signed on before the July 30 announcement, reaching 300 by Sept. 25, 500 on Sept. 30, and more than 1,200 by Oct. 10. “We were proud to participate in the first-ever DAF Day as a way to educate and inspire our community to learn more about donor advised funds and how they can make an immediate impact on Parkinson's research, while creating a legacy of philanthropy,” shares Sarah Chatham, Vice President and Head of Individual Giving at The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, which was also a launch partner for DAF Day.

In the coming weeks, Chariot will collect more comprehensive DAF Day data and feedback from all participants. That additional data will be released by Chariot later this year, providing more specific insights into the impact of the inaugural DAF Day and the potential for many years to come.

The next DAF Day is slated for Thursday, October 9th, 2025.

About Chariot

Chariot is the payments company dedicated to Donor Advised Fund (DAF) giving. DAFpay, Chariot’s 3-click DAF payment option, allows donors to give with their DAF anywhere they are inspired to give online.