Summary: Donor management software should be your hub of donor-advised fund (DAF) activity and fundraising, especially on DAF Day. In this article, we outline how donor management software can support your DAF strategy and make DAF Day fundraising more successful.
In a previous article, we introduced the concept of donor-advised funds (DAFs), a fast-growing trend in charitable giving that could help small nonprofits tap into a large source of potential funding.
In fact, DAF giving grew 30% in 2024 and resulted in a median increase of 100% in annual support, according to the 2025 DAF Fundraising Report!
The rise in DAF popularity led to the first DAF Day in 2024, which was created to encourage donors to make charitable contributions from their DAFs. Much like Giving Tuesday, small nonprofits would benefit by making DAF Day an annual fundraising priority on the second Thursday of October!
Your donor management software is essential to a successful DAF strategy, especially for DAF Day. Let’s take a look at how your small nonprofit can take full advantage of your donor management software to engage DAF donors, track giving, and raise as much money as possible to support your mission!
The Role of Donor Management Software in Your DAF Strategy
With a DAF, individuals make tax-deductible donations to a sponsoring organization, or public charity. This organization holds and invests the money and recommends grants from the DAF to a qualified charitable organization.
These are highly engaged, passionate donors who want their gifts to have a meaningful, sustainable impact with causes that are important to them. Your donor management software will help you identify and track DAF opportunities and engage these donor groups to build closer relationships with your nonprofit!
Use your donor management software to:
- Track DAF sponsor organizations. Use resources like DAFinitive, a dedicated database for DAFs, to make a list of sponsors that you can engage to consider supporting your nonprofit.
- Track relevant data. Once you’ve created a list of DAF sponsor organizations, track gift amounts, gift dates, and total gift amounts via DAFs (year over year, pre-DAF Day vs. post-DAF day, etc.).
- Inform decision making. Use data about the sponsoring organization, donors, and giving history to guide your communication, engagement, and donation request strategies.
- Evaluate DAF viability. Analyze data and generate reports on the effectiveness of your DAF efforts to determine if you should continue devoting resources to DAF fundraising.
Make Your Donor Management Software Your DAF Day Hub!
Here are five ways to use your donor management software to crush it on DAF Day.
- Identify DAF donors in your database. Search and filter donors based on giving method to generate a list of DAF donors.
- Launch a targeted DAF Day email campaign and social media posts. Try out different messaging ideas and perform A/B tests to see which approach works best. Be sure to highlight DAF-friendly giving options. DAFday.com offers a marketing toolkit with tips, templates, and resources to help you get started!
- Educate and steward DAF Day donors. Use emails and social media posts to share stories of impact and show donors how their gifts will make a difference. Of course, invite DAF donors to “thank you” calls and express your gratitude!
- Add a DAF giving option to your website. Create a form specifically for DAFs or offer a DAF option on your general donation form.
- Report back with personalized acknowledgements. Donors want to know how well you know them and how much you appreciate them! Track grant dates and send timely, customized “thank you” mailings to show you’re paying attention.
Keep in mind that donor stewardship is a year-round practice. Keep DAF donors informed about your nonprofit’s events and programs, and make sure you send donor impact reports. Highlight the contributions of DAF donors, even if they wish to remain anonymous, to plant the DAF seed with potential sponsor organizations.
Donor management software is a small nonprofit’s best friend for DAF fundraising. Communicate and engage consistently, track your data, and highlight DAF giving throughout the year to create a long-term source of revenue!
