Donor-Advised Fund Researchers Seeking Data

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is giving $750,000 to a group of researchers to figure out how Americans use donor-advised funds.

A press release explains that DAFs, or donor-advised funds, allow donors to decide how their money is to be spent and what causes they'd like to support.

The study, which will be conducted by the Donor Advised Fund Research Collaborative, is seeking data from DAF-sponsoring organizations across the country.

"We want to dispel the narrative that all DAFs are the same," Elizabeth Boris, an institute fellow at the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute, says in the release.

"By looking at nationwide data and working to understand how these funds operate, we can empower practitioners, communities, and donors to use them to benefit all."

The study will combine data from community foundations, national sponsors, and religious-affiliated sponsors.

It will also look at how DAFs are used by different groups, such as millennials and high-net-worth donors, and at changes in the giving environment, such as economic fluctuations or pandemics.

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