Understanding the Donor-Advised Fund Giving Process: Insights From Current DAF Users

H. Daniel Heist; Megan M. Farwell; Benjamin F. Cummings; Ram A. Cnaan; Erinn Andrews; Rebecca Shamash

doi:10.1177/08997640211011248

Understanding the Donor-Advised Fund Giving Process: Insights From Current DAF Users

H. Daniel Heist, Megan M. Farwell, Benjamin F. Cummings, Ram A. Cnaan, Erinn Andrews, Rebecca Shamash

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The growing use of donor-advised funds (DAFs) is changing the way many donors give to charity. Despite the increasing influence and importance of DAFs in the nonprofit sector, very little is known about how people actually use them. We conducted 48 in-depth interviews with DAF users, collecting rich qualitative data about why and how donors use DAFs. We use these data to sketch a DAF giving process with four phases and multiple decision points. We highlight some of the common donor strategies that are used with DAFs. Overall, we present evidence of abundant diversity in individual adaptation for giving through DAFs.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	327-349
Number of pages	23
Journal	Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
Volume	51
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640211011248
State	Published - Apr 2022
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.

Keywords

DAF giving process
charitable giving
decision-making
donor-advised fund
philanthropy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Social Sciences (miscellaneous)

Access to Document

10.1177/08997640211011248

Cite this

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title = "Understanding the Donor-Advised Fund Giving Process: Insights From Current DAF Users",

abstract = "The growing use of donor-advised funds (DAFs) is changing the way many donors give to charity. Despite the increasing influence and importance of DAFs in the nonprofit sector, very little is known about how people actually use them. We conducted 48 in-depth interviews with DAF users, collecting rich qualitative data about why and how donors use DAFs. We use these data to sketch a DAF giving process with four phases and multiple decision points. We highlight some of the common donor strategies that are used with DAFs. Overall, we present evidence of abundant diversity in individual adaptation for giving through DAFs.",

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AU - Andrews, Erinn

AU - Shamash, Rebecca

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Understanding the Donor-Advised Fund Giving Process: Insights From Current DAF Users

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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