Our mission to democratize philanthropy intelligence and help donors, families, and advisors give smarter.
"There is almost no great content ecosystem around donor-advised funds. Most resources come from providers with a sales incentive. Independent, transparent, expert guidance on DAFs is genuinely missing from the internet."
— The insight that led to DAF+
DAF+ exists to democratize philanthropy intelligence. We believe that donors, families, and financial advisors deserve clear, honest, expert guidance on charitable giving—without sales pitches or bias.
The philanthropic sector has grown to $5+ trillion in assets. Yet most giving decisions happen without the right information. People don't understand tax benefits. They don't know how to evaluate charities. Advisors lack frameworks to help. The gap is huge.
DAF+ fills that gap with tools, guides, and insights designed to help donors maximize impact and tax efficiency. We take no payment from any DAF sponsor for inclusion, position, or presentation. We're nonprofit-friendly. And we believe that when people understand their options, they give more—and better.
Most giving decisions are made without expert guidance. Donors don't know about tax strategies. Nonprofits don't understand how DAFs affect their funding. Advisors lack tools to address charitable planning with clients. Information asymmetry costs billions in suboptimal giving.
We created free, accessible tools and guides. We write from first principles, not sales talking points. We partner with nonprofits and advisors to understand real needs. We never take payment from DAF sponsors, and we disclose our own conflicts rather than wait to be asked. We measure success by impact, not conversions.
A world where every donor understands their giving options. Where charitable planning is as common as retirement planning. Where advisors help clients give smarter. Where nonprofits benefit from informed, intentional support—not last-minute donations.
Founder, DAF+
Adam Riding has spent over a decade in philanthropic administration and grant-making. He has managed donor-advised funds, worked closely with major donors, and advised nonprofits on grant strategy.
He still does that work. Adam is a partner in Crewe Foundation Services, a firm that manages and administers charitable organizations, and he sits on the board of one of them — Crewe Endowment Foundation, a donor-advised fund sponsor. That is where the insight behind DAF+ comes from — not theory, but the daily practice of it: the barriers donors run into, the information gaps that lead to worse giving decisions, and how hard it is for advisors to help clients with charitable planning without good data.
It also led to a realization: there should be a resource that helps people understand donor-advised funds without a sales agenda attached — built on public filings anyone can check, rather than on marketing claims. Something transparent, honest, and genuinely useful.
So Adam started DAF+. The mission is simple: democratize philanthropy intelligence, so everyone can make smarter charitable decisions.
Conflict of interest
Adam serves on the board of Crewe Endowment Foundation (EIN 84-3378692), a donor-advised fund sponsor that appears in the DAF+ sponsor index like any other sponsor. A sponsor’s payout rate is substantially a product of decisions its board makes — and this site publishes and ranks that rate. Crewe is computed by the same formula, from the same source files, under the same rules: no manual adjustment, no special case in the code.
On the payout measure DAF+ leads with, it scores well. We say so before you find it. The full disclosure, with Crewe's own figures, is on the methodology page.
"The best giving decisions happen when people have good information. My job is to make sure that information is accessible, honest, and expert-backed."
— Adam Riding, Founder
We take zero payment from DAF providers or financial companies. Our only incentive is to help donors and advisors make better decisions.
We fact-check everything. We partner with tax experts and nonprofit leaders to ensure our guidance is accurate and current.
All of our tools and guides are free. We avoid jargon. We write for donors, not just financial professionals.
We measure success by impact: donors who give more, give better, and align their wealth with their values. That's our north star.
We commit to staying independent, always. To prioritizing accuracy over marketing. To keeping our tools free and accessible. To listening to users—donors, advisors, and nonprofits. And to measuring our success by the impact our community makes.
Have questions about DAF+? Want to partner with us? Have feedback? We'd love to hear from you.
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