November 2, 2022

The Blackbaud Giving Fund, a 501(c)(3) donor-advised fund (DAF) that generates most of its pass-along donations through workplace giving campaigns, is knocking on the door of $1 billion donation transferred, hitting $898 million to 195,000 charities since its August 2020 launch.

The Charleston, South Carolina-based DAF disbursed $630 million from donor accounts to more than 146,000 nonprofits worldwide during 2021, making it among the top 10 largest donor-advised fund sponsors in the United States. The largest DAF is Fidelity Charitable from where the Blackbaud Giving Fund Executive Director Matt Nash who previously had been an executive there. Fidelity reported passing-through $10.2 billion during 2021.

While most constituent relationship management (CRM) programs allow donors to give at the click of a button, the Blackbaud Giving Fund donations are through Blackbaud’s YourCause and JustGiving platforms. Within the platforms, nonprofit managers can engage with current and prospective donors, raise awareness for their cause, analyze donor activity, view statistics, and enroll in automated clearinghouse (ACH) payments for distribution.

Donors can choose to be identified to the charity supported or can remain anonymous, Nash said.

Fees for the service are contracted with the corporations using the workplace giving platforms, Nash said. Payments tend to be disbursed within about a month, once a donation and the corporate match are entered into the system. The DAF also generates income from the float on the money held until that disbursement.

Donors can also use the NPOconnect feature to search for causes to support from a list of more than 1.5 million nonprofits in good standing with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or select organizations by name, Nash said.

Beyond disbursing funds to nonprofits, the fund offers resources to organizations, including receipting, and through the partnership with YourCause from Blackbaud. Nonprofit staff members have access to statistics, reports, and disbursements via ACH payments through the YourCause platform, Nash said.

Nash stressed that the DAF is separate from corporate Blackbaud, although two of the five board members are Blackbaud executives.