There is a category of giver every ministry has and very few intentionally invite. They tithe through a donor-advised fund, often quietly, often consistently, and often at amounts that would surprise the staff. They are not waiting for an annual appeal. They are waiting for an easy way to direct their next grant.
Most faith-based nonprofits we audit have giving pages that effectively ignore these donors. Not on purpose. The form simply does not know they exist, so they take the extra fifteen minutes to log into Fidelity Charitable or Schwab on their own and hope they spelled your legal name correctly.
We want to make the case that this is one of the highest-leverage fixes a ministry can make this year.
Why DAFs Quietly Became the Largest Giving Vehicle You Are Not Optimizing For
Donor-advised funds have grown into one of the largest sources of charitable giving in the United States. Donors put appreciated assets into a fund, take the tax deduction in the year of the contribution, and then recommend grants to nonprofits over time. The money is already set aside for charity. The donor's only remaining decision is where it goes.
That is the part most appeals miss. A DAF donor is not deciding whether to give. They are deciding which organizations to remember. If your name is not easy to recommend, or if your site never mentions DAFs at all, you become the ministry they meant to support but did not get around to. The gift goes somewhere else with a clearer path.
The donors using these funds also tend to give more per gift than credit card donors, and they tend to give over many years rather than once. Losing one DAF relationship is not losing one gift. It is losing a decade of stewardship.
What to Actually Add to Your Giving Page
The fix is not technical. It is editorial.
Add a clearly labeled "Give from a Donor-Advised Fund" option on your main giving page, with the same visual weight as credit card or ACH. Underneath it, include three pieces of information any DAF advisor will need: your legal organization name, your EIN, and your mailing address. Make them copy-paste friendly. We have seen ministries lose grants because a donor guessed at the legal name and the grant got rejected or routed to a different nonprofit with a similar one.
For larger ministries, a DAF widget such as DAFpay or DAF Direct lets donors initiate a grant from your page without leaving the site. These tools cover the major sponsors that most DAF donors use. They are not free, but for any organization receiving even a handful of DAF grants a year, they pay for themselves quickly.
Finally, add a short, plain sentence somewhere on the page explaining what a DAF is, for the donor who has heard the term but never used one. You will be surprised how often that single paragraph turns a curious reader into a future giver.
How to Talk About DAFs Without Sounding Like a Tax Brochure
Faith-based nonprofits sometimes hesitate to mention DAFs because the language feels cold. Tax deductions, appreciated assets, qualified distributions. None of that sounds like ministry.
We find the simplest framing works best. Something like: "Many of the people who support our work give through a donor-advised fund. If you have one, we are grateful, and here is how to direct your next grant our way." That is it. No jargon. No pressure. Just an open door for a donor who already wants to walk through it.
Stewardship cuts both ways. The donor has been thoughtful enough to set aside resources for generosity. The least we can do is be thoughtful enough to make that generosity easy to deliver.
A Few Things to Track Once the Path Is Live
Once you have added DAF instructions to your site, watch a few things over the next two quarters.
Track DAF gifts as their own category in your database rather than lumping them into "other" or "check." You want to know how many you receive, from which sponsors, and at what average size. Some of the larger sponsors release donor names with their grants and some do not, which means your acknowledgment process needs a little extra discipline. A grant that arrives anonymously still deserves a thank-you posted publicly on your site or in your newsletter.
Also pay attention to the timing. DAF grants tend to cluster at year-end and at the start of new tax years. If your communications calendar is built only around traditional giving moments, you are likely missing the quieter rhythm these donors follow.
A Small Change With a Long Tail
Adding DAF support to a giving page is one of the smallest projects we take on. It is usually a few hours of design and copy work, plus an evening of testing. The impact, though, plays out over years. The donors who use these funds are some of the most committed givers a ministry will ever have, and they tend to tell other DAF holders about the nonprofits they trust.
We help churches, missions, and faith-driven nonprofits design giving experiences that honor every kind of generosity, not just the ones that fit a credit card field. If your giving page does not yet have a clear path for donor-advised funds, that is a worthwhile place to start. Reach out through our contact page and we will take a look with you.