Ops Insights #091 - How to Enter DAF Gifts
June 8, 2026 | Read Time: 3 minutes | Written by Jenny Kleintop
Donor Advised Fund (DAF) gifts are quickly gaining in popularity. According to a Chronicle of Philanthropy, as of December 2025, there was $326 billion currently tied up in donor-advised funds (DAFs) across the United States.
So much so that fundraising leaders are developing targeted strategies and hiring consulting advisors to help guide their teams. It makes sense, as we want donors to recommend that the money be directed to charities rather than have it sit in their DAFs.
Then, as we secure more DAF gifts, the question of how to enter them into our fundraising database has become increasingly important. From all the nonprofits I’ve advised and observed over the years, the following is how I guide leaders and teams.
There are three parts to a DAF gift:
Donor: The individual who asked the administrator of the DAF to send the gift, such as Jane Smith.
Administrator: The entity sending the gift, who is the administrator of the DAF, such as Vanguard, Fidelity, or Schwab Charitable.
DAF Name: The name of the account at the entity that holds the DAF, such as Smith Giving Fund.
There have been various ways of entering these gifts across the industry:
Check-Signer Way: Enter the hard credit on Vanguard, soft credit Jane Smith, and either do nothing with the DAF Name or enter it into the reference.
Donor-Focused Way: Enter the hard credit on Jane Smith, soft credit Vanguard, and either do nothing with the DAF Name or enter it into the reference.
Donor-Centric Way: Enter the hard credit on Jane Smith, add Vanguard as a gift attribute/custom field as check-signer or funds received from, and the DAF Name as a gift attribute/custom field as DAF Name.
DAF Name Way: Enter the hard credit on the Smith Giving Fund, soft credit both Jane Smith and Vanguard.
I recommend and have seen the most success with #3, the donor-centric way.
#1 leans toward the finance approach, and the other two do not provide everything we need to be donor-centric.
We are using a fundraising database, and our objectives are to steward donors and secure additional gifts. We want our main relationship to be with Jane Smith, meaning Jane is who we will send thank you notes, further outreach, and additional solicitations. We may have a separate relationship with Vanguard to get them to recommend donors to us, but we want to show Jane Smith on all our donor lists, mail lists, and outreach lists. Which means when we put the hard credit on Jane Smith, that means Jane Smith will pull every time.
Adding Vanguard as the check-signer (and even having a check-signer address attribute/customer fields) allows us to report to finance who, for IRS purposes, is the legal donor.
Adding the DAF Name as a gift attribute/custom field allows us to pull it seamlessly into thank you letters.
With DAFs, when thanking the individual donor, such as Jane Smith, make sure to remove any tax language and use a statement such as “Thank you for recommending the generous grant of $500 that we received on <date> through your donor-advised fund <fund name> at Schwab Charitable.”
Take Action
To see if it’s time to solidify (or adjust) how you enter DAF gifts into your fundraising database, follow these 3 steps:
1 ➡ Take stock of how you currently enter DAF gifts and document the current process.
2 ➡ Gather a small task force or group to discuss how you currently enter DAF gifts and how this compares to what I outlined above. Make sure to have both frontline and backline team members in the conversation. Write out the various reasons to go with one option over the other.
3 ➡ Based on the conversation, implement plans to update your process (if that is what you decided) and make sure to circle back with the task force in 3 months. This is key, as it will ensure that any adjustments benefit the way you work with donors and help you secure more gifts in the future.
You’ve got this!
👋 See you next time,
Jenny
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