Going Beyond Cash: The New Era in Fundraising

As a ministry, an obvious part of your role is to raise funds. What you may not know is the variety of options that donors have to give from! There are two options offered by The Signatry which may be helpful to you and your donors. They are a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) and a Charity/Designated Fund.

A DAF enables donors to make occasional gifts to a fund, and then to recommend grants from that fund to the organizations of their choice throughout the year. It is similar to a family setting up a private foundation, but with much less upfront/overhead expense (in both time and money).

A Charity Fund, on the other hand, is set up to benefit one specific organization. This guarantees that all the money placed in the fund will eventually end up in the hands of the designated beneficiary.

The main difference between the two is the amount of flexibility the donor has in giving grants. A DAF enables the donor to support multiple ministries, while a Charity Fund is restricted to one recipient. Either one is something that you can encourage your donors to consider setting up to make the donation process easier for them in the long run.

So what benefit do organizations like yours receive from these two types of funds?

First of all, donors can use either type of account to set up recurring grants. This enables the donor to make a one-time/annual contribution to the fund but then still support your ministry year-round.

Secondly, both types of funds enable ministries to tap into resources that are typically not considered for contributions: the donors’ non-cash assets, which make up 90% of the average American’s wealth. By using a DAF or Charity Fund, donors can leverage their business, stock, or real estate wealth for Kingdom purposes. Encouraging the use of these funds enables you as a ministry to fish in the 90% of people’s wealth in addition to the 10% of cash (which typically makes up 80% of charitable giving).

If you have further questions about how you as a ministry can encourage donors to utilize these types of funds offered by The Signatry, feel free to reach out and get in touch with us!