Daffy launched on September 30, 2021 with a simple idea. The donor-advised fund, which had been around for decades, needed to be reinvented. High minimums. Asset-based fees. Outdated technology. Why couldn’t we use modern technology to reinvent the age-old idea of putting money aside for charity for the 21st century, designed not just for the wealthy, but for everyone who gives?
But could we convince people to take money out of their own pockets, and put it aside for charity? Could we use technology to help people be more generous, more often?
Feels like yesterday, but it was a little less than four and a half years ago. So it seems surreal to announce today that in that time, Daffy Charitable Fund has gone from $0 to $1 billion in charitable assets. That’s more than $7 per second, every second, since we launched.
At Daffy, we are awed by the generosity of our members. This success is theirs, not ours. It was just last month that we shared our 2025 Year in Review, celebrating over $720 million in charitable assets. But it is worth a few moments to reflect on how a DAF built for everyone could amass so much in such a short time, and what that says about the opportunity in philanthropy to bridge the $1.7 trillion generosity gap over the next decade.
This is a story of two types of Daffy members, starters and switchers.
Starters: The Demand That Was Always There
Students of Disruption Theory, made famous by Clay Christensen, know the concept of large markets of customers that are overlooked and underserved by existing solutions. The donor-advised fund market is one of those stories.
There are over 60 million households in the U.S. that give to charity every year. A vast majority have never had a donor-advised fund. Not because they don’t want one, or because it isn’t a good idea for them to have an account set aside for charity. The real reason is that the existing providers have largely focused on the wealthy, and haven’t seen the value in building a product designed for them.
Vanguard is a wonderful firm, and has likely done more to bring low-cost, high-quality financial products to millions than any other company. But even Vanguard Charitable has a $25,000 minimum to open an account.
Daffy was built for these donors. When we launched, our focus was ensuring that the typical donor, who puts aside $10 a week or $25 a month would find a platform that rewarded their giving. Most Daffy members have never had a donor-advised fund before. 63% of Daffy members have accounts under $10,000. These are members who believe in charity, who give regularly, and need a place to give with structure and intention. Daffy provides them a home for their generosity, and helps them be more generous.
Switchers: Slowly and then All at Once
While Daffy is the first donor-advised fund for most members, our rapid growth in charitable assets has accelerated due to people moving funds from an existing donor-advised fund to the platform. This development was somewhat unexpected; when Daffy launched, it famously did not even have a feature to let people transfer funds from an existing DAF! (Note: we fixed this quickly…)
A growing number of Daffy members are not new to donor-advised funds, but they are looking for something new, something different. These members have accounts at Fidelity Charitable, DAFgiving360 (fka Schwab Charitable), Vanguard Charitable, or other funds offered by large banks and brokerages. These are the clients the industry was built to serve… but they left anyway.
Why?
It turns out these members are sold on the idea of setting money aside for charity. They understand the tax advantages of a donor-advised fund, and the benefits of having a home for their giving. But they are frustrated by the lack of innovation at existing providers.
Daffy launched with a very simple proposition: modern technology and flat-rate membership pricing. But not surprising for a team from Silicon Valley, we’ve been busy building. Daffy now has a large number of features that you just can’t find anywhere else: family plans, custom portfolios, native crypto, the ability to recommend that donated stock is held or sold down gradually, and public giving campaigns with the option for matching.
Since inception, we’ve seen over $155 million transferred to us, including $75 million from Fidelity Charitable alone. Transfers range from a few thousand dollars to well over $8 million. These members contribute even more, as Daffy supports contributions of mutual funds, ETFs, individual stocks, crypto, and even private company shares. People are moving serious money.
Paying more for fewer features apparently isn’t that attractive a proposition.
Daffy is for Everyone
Starters and switchers might seem like they have very different needs, but it turns out that they have more in common than not. These are all people who care about giving, and are increasingly selecting the platform that can help them be more generous.
The existing industry got trapped by catering to an increasingly small number of extremely wealthy clients on their walled platforms. As a result, they underinvested in technology, and more importantly, they stopped innovating.
Starters were priced out or put off. The product wasn’t built for them. Switchers were technically served, but grew increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress.
Both are finding their way to Daffy, and in increasing numbers.
Since launch, Daffy members have made tens of thousands of donation recommendations totaling more than $200 million. Our single largest donation was over $5 million, but our median is $100, and our minimum is just $10.
That’s what it means to build a DAF for everyone.
To Our Members: Thank You 🙏
For every Daffy member who has been part of this journey, we want to thank you. You didn’t just open an account. You helped prove that a better donor-advised fund was possible. You showed up, and now the industry is paying attention.
For most donor-advised funds, change is rare. We are proud to be building a platform, focused on generosity, that keeps getting better. If you have new ideas on how Daffy can help inspire more people to give, we want to hear them.
$1 billion seems like an almost immeasurable amount, but it’s just the start.
Our mission is to help people be more generous, more often.
Daffy is the Donor-Advised Fund for You™.