Year-End Giving to DAFs Soared as Donors Rushed to Beat Tax Changes

Giving to donor-advised funds spiked at the end of 2025, compared with the same period in 2024, according to several DAF sponsors, which host these accounts for donors. 

As consultants and tax advisers predicted, the tax law changes that went into effect in January helped fuel the surge. Under the new law, itemizers must give a minimum amount before they can qualify for a tax deduction so many donors gave large sums to DAFs at the end of 2025 to meet those requirements. 

Giving to a DAFs enables donors to receive the tax advantage but spread out giving over a longer period. 

“I’ve spoken with dozens of DAF sponsors,” says Mitch Stein, head of strategy at Chariot, which helps process gifts from DAFs going to charities. “Every single one had both record contributions and grant volume in December.”

Daffy, a nonprofit that sponsors DAFs, says donors contributed $200 million to their accounts in December 2025, which is more than in all of 2024. 

The National Philanthropic Trust saw a 140 percent increase in DAF accounts in December 2025 over the previous December, according to CEO Holly Welch Stubbing. Donor grant making from DAFs increased 112 percent over that period.  

At DAFgiving360, formerly known as Schwab Charitable, contributions increased 50 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025 over the same period in 2024, according to the company.

“I think 2025 goes down as one of those years where it felt like the wind was at donors’ … backs,” says Adam Nash, CEO of Daffy. 

The tax changes weren’t the only impetus for giving. Big gains in the stock market meant donors had appreciated assets and could avoid paying capital gains taxes by donating the stocks to DAFs. Several DAF sponsors, including Daffy, Vanguard Charitable, and the National Philanthropic Trust saw an increase in stock donations. 

Even smaller DAF sponsors, like the Rose Community Foundation in Denver, saw an uptick in stock contributions to DAFs at year end. “We saw most of our donations come in appreciated stock,” says Judy Altenberg, chief philanthropy officer at the community foundation. She notes this combination of the tax law and stock gains propelled donors who had been sitting on the fence to make a move.

“I have some donors who’ve said to me over the last couple of years. We’re really thinking about opening a donor advised fund,” she says. Last year, Altenberg encouraged those donors to seal the deal, and they did. 

Some Sponsors Encourage Donors to Give

Several of the DAF sponsors the Chronicle spoke with say donors want help figuring out where to direct their funds. The big providers try to be neutral about specific charities but do want to encourage giving, says Elaine Kenig, chief communications officer for Vanguard Charitable. For example, many have tools to let donors search for charities by mission, such as education or social services, or by location, such as hyper local or national. 

Kenig noted that during crises, such as the Los Angeles wildfires last year, big DAF sponsors highlighted groups they had confirmed were working on the ground to address the crisis so donors could avoid giving scams that often pop up during a disaster.

Daffy, which is a social giving platform, lets users see which charities others are donating to.

When users donate, they often leave comments explaining why they gave, which Nash, the CEO, says spurs others to give.

“That seems to have the most effect on people’s generosity — just seeing the gifts and the reasoning that other real people have for giving money,” Nash says. “ Some of those comments are really moving and touching.”

Community foundations tend to be the most involved in offering recommendations to their donors. Altenberg at the Rose Community Foundation says donors have come to rely on that.

“I often get calls from donors who will [ask]: What are you seeing out there? What are the needs?” she says. 

While it’s still early in 2026, Vanguard and DAFgiving360 have seen a 30 percent increase in grant making in the first two months of the year.

“It’s an incredibly strong start coming off of an incredible fourth quarter,” says Julie Sunwoo, president of DAFgiving360. “We’ve seen growth, and I don’t expect that to slow down. Will it be at the same pace as last year? We’ll see.”

And while some donors may have put money aside at the end of 2025 because they were nudged by tax changes, it doesn’t necessarily mean they will dole out that money at a slower pace, says Altenberg. 

“Many of my donors are highly motivated to give dollars out, so they might have gone in with the intentions of how they’re going to execute on their plan, but then they see needs in the community,” she says. “Many of our donors respond philanthropically when there is some crisis.”

Correction: This piece has been corrected to say that in December 2025, DAF accounts at the National Philanthropic Trust grew 140 percent and giving from DAFs increased 112 percent over the previous December.