I work in philanthropy at an effective animal welfare nonprofit. Here are my thoughts on DAFs:
PROS: DAFs have the benefits of having your own foundation (including enabling you to give over any number of years and have tax benefits) but without the administrative burden. DAFs can create a barrier between the donor and the nonprofit (i.e. if you don’t specify who you are, the nonprofit can’t contact you) which could be a pro or a con.
CONS: the nonprofit doesn’t receive names and contact info for the people who donate to your DAF. If an individual makes a donation to your DAF in honor of your wedding, the nonprofit doesn’t know that s/he donated and may miss out on the opportunity cultivate her/him as a donor. You may be able to circumvent this, though, by asking your wedding guests to opt into sharing their names/contact info and then passing that info along to the nonprofit. At the nonprofit where I work, we’ve had repeated success with converting wedding donors into lifetime donors.
I work in philanthropy at an effective animal welfare nonprofit. Here are my thoughts on DAFs:
PROS: DAFs have the benefits of having your own foundation (including enabling you to give over any number of years and have tax benefits) but without the administrative burden. DAFs can create a barrier between the donor and the nonprofit (i.e. if you don’t specify who you are, the nonprofit can’t contact you) which could be a pro or a con.
CONS: the nonprofit doesn’t receive names and contact info for the people who donate to your DAF. If an individual makes a donation to your DAF in honor of your wedding, the nonprofit doesn’t know that s/he donated and may miss out on the opportunity cultivate her/him as a donor. You may be able to circumvent this, though, by asking your wedding guests to opt into sharing their names/contact info and then passing that info along to the nonprofit. At the nonprofit where I work, we’ve had repeated success with converting wedding donors into lifetime donors.