The Fundraiser's Guide to Donor-Advised Funds

Welcome back to the Podcast Arts Fundraisers.

Just the other morning, I was prepping to talk with a group of cultural leaders about practical ways to raise more from planned giving and DAFs.

And I was scrolling through emails and I saw that the 2025 GivingUSA report on philanthropy had just been released.

What kismet that among other statistics, it included a staggering near 20% increase in bequests.

We were certainly about to discuss a timely topic, as this was the strongest growth among charitable giving sources in 2025.

But even more intriguing, this marked the third year in the last four in which bequests posted double-digit increases.

But what do all of

those numbers mean?

Let me paint you a picture.

If you've been around a community foundation lately, you know that they all got serious about proactive fundraising in the last decade or so.

All of a sudden, they had more development officers than program officers.

My theory is that they all went to a conference where someone started talking about the last great wealth transfer.

What's that? Well, it's the theory that baby boomers have aggregated a great concentration of wealth, which they'll pass to their heirs and charities, diluting the concentration in the process.

Meaning, this will be one of the last great opportunities for planned giving and other such sophisticated giving outlets.

So in simple terms, community foundations got real concerned that this was their last chance for big money and they jumped into action.

Philanthropy circles have been talking about this last great wealth transfer for over a decade.

So back to those GivingUSA stats, what does double digit bequest growth three years in a row mean? Most believe it means that the last great transfer of wealth It's here.

So what does that mean? It means that arts fundraisers have to get serious about planned giving and DAFs like our friends at community foundations have, or we're going to miss a wave of opportunity.

And while that urgency is real, the actions we can take as fundraisers to heed the call are surprisingly simple.

So simple that I'm going to break them down for you over the next two podcasts.