Does your nonprofit receive anonymous donor-advised fund (DAF) gifts? You're not alone.
It happens all too often: a DAF grant check arrives in the mail with no donor information, just the name of the financial institution that sent it.
Your team is left asking, "Who sent us this $5,000 DAF gift?" and the generous person behind it never gets the thank-you note and gratitude they deserve.
That's why Infinite Giving created our DAF commitment tracker, a simple way to connect DAF grants back to your donors. In this video, we walk through how our tracker works for DAFs and non-cash giving, why it matters for your donor relationships, plus how your nonprofit can start using it ahead of year-end Giving Season.
Why are anonymous DAF gifts a problem?
A donor-advised fund is a charitable giving account held at a sponsoring organization, often connected to a financial institution. Donors contribute to their DAF, receive a tax benefit, and then recommend grants from the fund to the nonprofits they care about. DAFs have become one of the most popular ways for donors to give, which makes them an important part of any nonprofit's fundraising strategy.
How to solve the challenge of anonymous DAF grants
Because DAF grants are sent by the sponsoring organization rather than the donor, the check or payment your nonprofit receives may not include the donor's name or contact details. Sometimes donors choose to stay anonymous, but often the information simply gets lost along the way. When that happens, your team can't identify who made the gift or send a timely, personal thank-you note.
It also limits your team's ability to record the DAF gift accurately in your donor database. This also prevents your development team from building upon the relationship that leads to future giving. Every unidentified gift is a missed opportunity to steward a supporter who already believes in your mission.
Infinite Giving's DAF commitment tracker tracks a gift from pledge to check arrival.
Here's how it works:
- Your donor visits your nonprofit's "More Ways to Give" donation page, hosted by Infinite Giving
- They choose to give through their DAF and select their financial institution or DAF provider.
- They enter the gift amount they plan to give, along with their name and email
- Your donor is automatically emailed instructions for completing the DAF grant with their provider
- The donor's DAF commitment appears in your nonprofit's Infinite Giving dashboard
Now, when the DAF check arrives, your team already knows who it came from. The donor's name and email are tied to the amount they pledged, so you can match the gift, thank your donor properly, and keep accurate records.
Know your donors: no more mystery DAF grant checks. Every DAF commitment is connected to a real person allowing your team to thank donors faster, and send a personal thank-you as soon as either the pledge is made or the gift arrives. Your team saves precious time because instead of having to track down DAF gift details they can focus on your mission.
Another perk is how Infinite Giving's DAF tracker simplifies the accounting process because pledged commitments and received gifts are easy to reconcile in one dashboard.
This also helps provide a better, streamlined donation experience as donors get clear, step-by-step instructions automatically to make completing their gift easy.
More than DAFs - track stock and crypto gifts
Infinite Giving's asset giving platform works the same way for gifts of stock and cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin and Ether. Donors can pledge noncash gifts from your "More Ways to Give" page, and your team can track every commitment in one place. It's a modern, streamlined way to accept the gifts your donors want to give.
Infinite Giving's goal is to protect your organization's greatest resources, time and money, by growing your giving through technology with a human touch.
If you're ready to stop asking, "Who sent this DAF?" then learn more and get started now.
