A donor-advised fund (DAF) is like a charitable bank account. Once you’ve opened a DAF, you can contribute to it as frequently as you’d like, receiving a tax benefit each time. As the donor-advisor to your fund, you can recommend grants or investments to your favorite charitable organizations or social enterprises.

DAFs are often used for grantmaking, but there’s so much more you can do with this tool! At Impact Charitable, we leverage DAFs in uniquely high-impact ways—like low-interest loans, equity investments, and pay for success investments. We specialize in impact-first investing because this approach allows for capital to be reinvested over and over again.

To get started, fill out our online form. We will reach out to you to complete the process and welcome you to the community. If you already have a DAF, you can roll it over to Impact Charitable, too!

If you know what you’d like to do with your DAF, that’s great. If not—or if you’d like to hear about some creative ways our DAF holders are using this philanthropic tool—James would be happy to walk you through your options.

We view philanthropy as one of the best places to take risks. Why? Because philanthropic capital is unique. Once it’s granted, it no longer belongs to the donor, and the donor knows that they’ll never see those funds again.

Without the expectation of return, philanthropic funds are far more flexible than business or government ever could be—allowing them to be applied to more innovative and higher-risk strategies.

At Impact Charitable, we are all about impact first. That’s why we like to call our strategy not just “impact investing” but “impact-first investing.”

This approach is centered on impact above all—ensuring that every dollar is leveraged for the highest-impact change, whether that’s providing low-cost startup capital to BIPOC-owned businesses or creating the infrastructure for large-scale direct cash transfers.

Learn more by viewing our portfolio or the spectrum of capital in which we work.

Impact Charitable’s fees are competitive for boutique impact investing but are certainly higher than big-box DAF providers like Schwab or Fidelity. Our DAF holders come to us because we offer far more unique opportunities for impact, not because we have the lowest fees in town. Contact us to explore your impact opportunities and discuss cost in more detail.

Our minimum to open a DAF is $5,000 (or the expectation to get there). We do not have a minimum for grantmaking.

Possibly. We do connect nonprofits and social enterprises with loans, grants, and direct investments, but we most often work with established community partners to identify and vet recipients. We do not have any kind of direct application for funding.

Still, you’re welcome to reach out to us at info@impactcharitable.org and see if we can help.