Five Questions to Ask About Your Midlevel Program
When nonprofit leaders and fundraisers hear “donor-advised fund,” most immediately think of major gifts.
That makes sense. Donor Advised Fund (DAF) donors typically have significant charitable assets, and DAF gifts can be substantial. But new research suggests that when we think about DAFs only as a major-gift strategy, we may be missing an important part of the picture.
The 2026 DAF Fundraising Report, based on giving data from 54 national nonprofits, found that two-thirds of DAF gifts were less than $1,000.
That means DAF donors are not sitting exclusively at the top of the donor pyramid. They are giving at every level, including midlevel.
The same study found that DAF donors had a 59% retention rate, 13 percentage points higher than non-DAF donors. And when existing donors began giving through a DAF, 64% increased their annual support to the organization and another 20% maintained it.
That is not just a major-gift story. It is a relationship and retention story.
If your organization has a midlevel program, here are five questions worth asking.
1. Do we know which of our midlevel donors give through a DAF?
This sounds simple, but the answer is often no.
DAF gifts may arrive from Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, a community foundation or another sponsoring organization. If the donor’s name is not recorded, or the sponsoring organization is treated as the donor, the fundraiser may never know that someone on their caseload made the gift.
The result is more than a data problem. It is a relationship problem.
A donor may have made a thoughtful, generous decision to support your mission and then received no personal acknowledgment because the gift was not connected to their record.
Start by reviewing how DAF gifts are entered into your CRM. The sponsoring organization and the donor advisor should have distinct records, with the gift soft-credited to the donor whenever that information is available.
Then look back. Are there DAF gifts from the past year that have never been connected to an individual donor?
2. Are we making DAF giving visible to midlevel donors?
Many organizations mention DAFs on a planned-giving page or in a list of “other ways to give.” That is a start, but it assumes donors will go looking for the information.
What if we made DAF giving more visible?
That does not mean every message needs to become a lesson on charitable-giving vehicles. A simple sentence may be enough:
“If you give through a donor-advised fund, you can recommend a grant to support this work.”
DAF language can be included in email footers, reply devices, campaign pages and conversations with donors. It should feel like a standard giving option, not something reserved for donors capable of making six-figure gifts.
If two-thirds of DAF gifts are below $1,000, DAF messaging belongs in midlevel and even broader donor communications.
3. Are we stewarding the donor - or only processing the gift? (this is a big one!)
A DAF gift sometimes arrives with limited information. That can make stewardship more difficult, but it does not make it less important.
When the donor can be identified, the acknowledgment should recognize the person behind the gift, not only the organization that transferred the funds.
The donor has already made the charitable contribution to the DAF. The grant to your organization represents another decision: they chose your mission.
That decision deserves to be acknowledged.
Thank the donor promptly. Share what their support makes possible. Ask what inspired the gift. And make sure the fundraiser responsible for the relationship knows it happened.
The mechanics may be different, but the fundamentals of relationship fundraising are exactly the same.
4. Can we see DAF retention and growth in our reporting?
The headline numbers from the DAF report are compelling, but sector data cannot tell you what is happening inside your own organization.
Can you answer these questions?
How many donors gave through a DAF last year?
How many gave again this year?
How many increased their support after switching to DAF giving?
How many DAF donors are currently in the midlevel program?
How much DAF revenue cannot be connected to an individual donor?
If your CRM cannot answer those questions, the first step is improving the way the information is captured.
DAF revenue should not disappear into a single institutional record. It should be visible as part of each donor’s giving history and the organization’s broader retention picture.
5. Are we treating DAF giving as a transaction or information gathering?
A donor’s decision to give through a DAF tells us something.
It may suggest that the donor is intentional about philanthropy. They may be consolidating their charitable giving, contributing appreciated assets or planning several years of support. They may also have more capacity than their previous giving history indicates.
That does not mean the next conversation should immediately become an upgrade ask.
It means you should get curious.
How do they make decisions about their giving? What matters most to them? Do they use their DAF to support the same organizations each year? What would help them feel more connected to the impact they are making?
A DAF gift is not a reason to make assumptions about a donor. It is an invitation to learn more.
The opportunity is bigger than a payment method
DAFs are sometimes treated as a technical issue for gift processing or a specialized strategy for major and planned giving teams.
But the emerging evidence points to something broader.
DAF donors are giving at every level. They are more likely to remain engaged. And many increase their support after they begin giving through a DAF.
For midlevel programs, the opportunity is not simply to receive more DAF gifts. It is to make sure those gifts lead to stronger donor relationships.
That requires good systems, thoughtful stewardship and fundraisers who remain curious about the person behind every gift - however that gift happens to arrive.