WEBINAR
Finally, DAFs Make Sense!
The step-by-step walkthrough of donor advised funds that nobody ever gave you.
Plus a reference sheet to keep.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026 | 1:00 PM ET
Donor Advised Funds Shouldn’t Leave You Guessing
Are you confused about exactly how DAFs work and why you can’t always find evidence of grant giving?
Wondering why you need to care about DAFs when researching for major gifts?
In charge of or impacted by gift entry and struggling with how to record DAF gifts properly?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this webinar is for you!
You’ve been in the meeting where someone says “it came in through their DAF,” and everyone nods.
You nodded too.
Donor advised funds come up constantly now — in gift meetings, in prospect strategy, in the headlines. Somewhere along the way, understanding them became something you were just supposed to have picked up.
But maybe nobody ever sat down and walked you through it, start to finish: what a DAF actually is, how the money moves, and why any of it should change the way you do your job.
That’s this hour.
Nothing assumed.
No jargon dropped without explanation.
We start at the beginning and follow a donor advised fund from the moment an account is opened to the moment a grant arrives at your nonprofit.
Then we get to the part that matters most for your work: a DAF is both a wealth signal and a philanthropy signal, and you’ll learn exactly what it tells you about a prospect’s capacity, their intent, and how they like to give.
Finally, we’ll cover how to record DAF gifts consistently in your database, so all the work you do to identify these donors doesn’t get lost at gift entry.
By the end of the session, you’ll be able to:
- Explain how a donor advised fund works and what grant information is required to be reported.
- Recognize a donor advised fund as a wealth signal that can inform prospect identification and enrich a donor profile.
- Apply consistent data entry practices for recording DAF gifts in your organization’s donor database.
Reserve Your Seat
Three-month replay access included
FREE to Research Asset members
There is a maximum of 100 participants for this live webinar.
And why does this matter right now?
Donor advised funds granted $89.64 billion to charity in 2024, and that number keeps climbing. Your organization deserves a piece of it — and that starts with fundraisers and researchers who understand how these funds actually work.
You’ll leave with our Anatomy of a DAF reference sheet as a PDF — a plain-English walkthrough of how a donor advised fund is put together and who does what — to keep at your desk, share with your team, and pull up the next time a DAF gift crosses your path.
BONUS: Go deeper after the webinar
Every registrant also receives a digital copy of Disruptive Philanthropy: A Guide to Donor Advised Funds—a $35 value.
This 10-chapter, 61-page guidebook expands on the material covered in the session, giving you a practical resource whenever you want to explore the topic in greater depth.
About Your Host
President, Prospect Research Institute
Researcher, consultant, author, speaker and trainer, Jennifer Filla is on a mission to perform research with distinction and to provide other prospect research professionals with the power to perform their work with excellence, lead with research, and make a difference!
As President of Prospect Research Institute she is responsible for setting the strategic direction of the Institute and overseeing the content creation and delivery of all educational offerings. She is also CEO and Founder of Aspire Research Group LLC.