We all know about Giving Tuesday – the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving – and its impact on nonprofits. Established in 2012 by Henry Timms at the 92nd Street Y in New York, it was a philanthropic call to action during a traditional period of hyper-consumerism. Now a global movement, by its tenth anniversary, donations in the US alone topped $3 billion!
Now, it’s time to make sure you mark another date on your calendar – the second Thursday in October – which is officially DAF Day. Launched by vendor Chariot in 2024, DAF Day is “a national holiday for donors and nonprofits to get more from giving- with DAFs.”
According to a Chariot report after this year’s event, participation grew to more than 4,400 nonprofits (4x as many as last year), more than 30 DAF sponsors (6x as many as last year) and more than 1,000 gifts totaling $2M in observable giving. In only its second year, DAF Day has also traveled beyond the United States to Canada as well.
One of the goals of DAF Day is to increase awareness of DAFs and charitable giving, for both nonprofits and donors alike. Similar to Giving Tuesday, to help build awareness and boost participation, participating nonprofits and sponsors are given access to handouts, action plans and other beneficial tools to share with their constituents and clientele.
So, why is DAF Day important? Do we really need another day of giving?
As we have seen in recent years, philanthropic giving through DAFs has grown substantially. In fact, earlier in the year, the 2025 DAF Fundraising Report was released by Chariot and, K2D Strategies. More than 30 nonprofits participated by submitting data and participating in interviews. The report discussed the impacts of DAFs on donor behavior and DAF donors’ impact on nonprofits.
Some key findings include:
- DAF donors who converted from prior sources of giving increased their donations more than 100% from 2024.
- Conversion: A donor who previously gave as an individual through cash or other sources of giving and then started giving via their DAF.
- DAFs are not just for large gifts:
- 60% of DAF gifts were below $1,000.
- Only 15% of donors who made gifts above $1,000 were donating through their DAFs
- Some of the highest rates of DAF giving growth were at annual giving levels ($500 and under).
- DAF giving is growing
- Overall there was over 30% of median DAF revenue growth over the previous year.
- Smaller organizations (those with less than $10M in annual revenue) saw more than 143% growth in their share of revenue from DAFs.
- While more than 80% of the nonprofits surveyed saw gifts from DAFs increase, non-DAF revenue declined.
- One-third of those surveyed reported that DAF revenue growth helped to make up for the lower amount of non-DAF giving.
With results like this, why shouldn’t we lean into the movement?
You can learn more about this year’s results and participating nonprofits on the DAF Day website. And, mark your calendar’s for next year’s holiday on October 8, 2026!
Is there something you’d like us to write about in DAFinitively Speaking? Let us know! hello@dafinitive.com
