I just started researching DAFs and this article was so helpful! Thank you so much! Another option I came across in my research that you might want to add to your comparison is endaoment.org.
I’d also love a comparison of which DAFs support direct giving (e.g. gift a stock through the DAF provider to a charity rather than first to your DAF, then later to a charity) and whether that has an effect on the fees you pay.
I just had a brief look at Endaoment, later I will do a more careful look and update my post but here’s what I noticed:
Endaoment appears to do some fancy stuff that other DAF providers don’t do and it’s very crypto-focused.
It looks like there are no AUM fees, but it charges 0.5% on deposits and 1% on donations, which is more expensive than a normal DAF if your DAF has high turnover, and cheaper than a normal DAF if you only donate once every few years or so.
I was not aware of Endaoment, I will look into it!
I don’t know if any DAF providers support direct giving. But any provider should let you give stock to your DAF and then donate it to charity a few days later.
In terms of fees, if you only use your DAF as a convenient way to donate stock and you mostly maintain a $0 balance, then you’ll just have to pay the minimum fee. I listed the minimum fees here—I think your best bet is Schwab because it has no minimum fee. Charityvest has no minimum for cash-only accounts, and I think you can still contribute stock to a cash-only account (they’ll just liquidate the stock once they get it), but I’m not sure about that so you might want to ask them.
I just started researching DAFs and this article was so helpful! Thank you so much! Another option I came across in my research that you might want to add to your comparison is endaoment.org.
I’d also love a comparison of which DAFs support direct giving (e.g. gift a stock through the DAF provider to a charity rather than first to your DAF, then later to a charity) and whether that has an effect on the fees you pay.
I just had a brief look at Endaoment, later I will do a more careful look and update my post but here’s what I noticed:
Endaoment appears to do some fancy stuff that other DAF providers don’t do and it’s very crypto-focused.
It looks like there are no AUM fees, but it charges 0.5% on deposits and 1% on donations, which is more expensive than a normal DAF if your DAF has high turnover, and cheaper than a normal DAF if you only donate once every few years or so.
I was not aware of Endaoment, I will look into it!
I don’t know if any DAF providers support direct giving. But any provider should let you give stock to your DAF and then donate it to charity a few days later.
In terms of fees, if you only use your DAF as a convenient way to donate stock and you mostly maintain a $0 balance, then you’ll just have to pay the minimum fee. I listed the minimum fees here—I think your best bet is Schwab because it has no minimum fee. Charityvest has no minimum for cash-only accounts, and I think you can still contribute stock to a cash-only account (they’ll just liquidate the stock once they get it), but I’m not sure about that so you might want to ask them.