NewTech Friday: Daffy – A smarter way to give

Adam Nash, Co-Founder and CEO of Daffy.org, discusses the creation of this not-for-profit community platform, which aims to make charitable giving more accessible and regular for all Americans through a reinvented donor-advised fund (DAF), and introduces Daffy Campaigns to help members raise money for various causes and charities.


What led to the creation of Daffy?

Daffy was born during the pandemic. Many people were struggling and many others were looking for ways to support organizations and communities in need. My co-founder Alejandro Crosa and I looked at the past decade of innovation from fintech apps like Acorns and Wealthfront, which help people save and invest every day, and thought, “What if there was a modern platform to help people give?”

From there, we knew we must reinvent the donor-advised fund (DAF), a tax-advantaged account for giving, which, to date, has been targeted exclusively at the ultrawealthy. It's an underutilized tool for giving that allows you to set money aside for charity, get the immediate tax deduction, and then give whenever you’re inspired. If you set a goal and automate your retirement savings, you’ll save more, and to no surprise, it’s the same for charitable giving.

Research shows that if people pre-commit to giving, they are likely to give 32% more. This meant that Americans had the potential to increase their donations by $1.27 trillion by 2031. So, Daffy was created to leverage technology and design to help people be more generous, more often. 

What's coming next for Daffy?

Last month, we launched Daffy Campaigns to help our members raise money for the charities and causes they care most about and others involved. Whether your children’s school needs new funds for a reading library, your company wants to support Pride Month, or your neighborhood has been affected by a natural disaster, you can create a Daffy Campaign for any registered 501(c)(3) organization. None of the traditional donor-advised fund providers allow members to raise money on their platform, yet we’ve seen the impact that communal giving features can have on their incentive to donate. With the introduction of Daffy Campaigns, we advance our mission of helping people be more generous, more often. A few key features of Daffy Campaigns include:

• Matching: Campaign organizers can elect to match any donations to the campaign.

• Impact units: Measure the real-world value of your gift with impact units (e.g. trees planted, blankets given, families fed).

• Multi-charity: Campaign organizers can select up to six nonprofits to support under one campaign.

• Milestones: Campaign organizers can set multiple goals for a campaign. Each goal can have a description of what the nonprofit may be able to do when that goal is reached.