March 24, 2016
Fishing for Big Fish – DAF Donors
By Jack Doyle
I just got back from the 2016 AFP International Fundraising Conference. The unofficial total of attendees was over 4,000. It felt like 10% of them were in my session, “Fishing for the Big Fish, Donors with Donor-Advised Fund Accounts.”
The spontaneous questions from the audience were non-stop. Arms were waving all the time and I attempted to answer as many questions as I could and still stay on time – because the end of the session included someone getting a DAF grant, live and online for all to see.
This is such a huge income opportunity for all fundraisers without a steep learning curve. Basic donor stewardship practices are required – build trust, show honest appreciation, inform, inspire and remember that donors enjoy giving. They want to help you!
The slides for the session are available for you, contact us!
The live feedback from the audience allowed for a lot of direct answers. The examples of banner ads led to practical advice about running stories in their newsletters after interviewing their own DAF donors, much like you already do with stories about donors receiving annuities or about donors who have included you in their wills and WHY they feel so good about what they have done for you.
The day after my session, three representatives from National Philanthropic Trust, Schwab Charitable and Fidelity Charitable reinforced a lot of what I had shared. Kim Laughton, President of Schwab Charitable, Matt Nash SVP, Fidelity Charitable and I were able to speak together after the sessions and swap cards and contact info. We have promised each other to be a resource in times of need — and before future fundraising sessions.
When I do this session again, refreshed and updated with their input, I’ll invite one or both of them to present with me.
I didn’t leave them without asking for something. I asked if they currently have anything equivalent to Google Grants, to which they asked, “What’s a Google Grant?”
I shared Google Grants with them and asked them to consider the enormous goodwill among their DAF account holders that they will unlock if they will fund the banner advertising we have created for clients. This allows clients to co-brand banner advertising to attract account holders and has immediate advantages for increasing giving from DAF donors you already have, from DAF account holders on your file who haven’t yet sent you a grant and for attracting new donors who have DAF accounts.
When you dig into the facts, an enormous amount of money is available to us from these funds – over $70 billion (yes, that’s a b). Who gets a lot of it every year? The same organizations that get most of the traditional charitable gifts get most of the DAF funds – religious organizations, universities and national healthcare charities.
What’s intriguing is that most everyone accepts DAF gifts, but they don’t ask for them.
If you work with Amergent, you will work with one of the organizations that will (from this point forward) always be reminding your donors and soliciting others to make DAF grants from their accounts.
Who’s going to be the first to get a $50,000 DAF grant? Stay tuned…
And by the way, the $500 grant recipient from my AFP session was the International Myeloma Foundation from North Hollywood, California.
Questions about DAF accounts or how we can help you? Contact us!
2015
Over $300 million raised for our Food Bank clients!
