DonorDrive, an EngageSmart (NYSE: ESMT) solution and creator of an advanced enterprise digital fundraising solution, announced a collaboration with Chariot, the creator of Donor Advised Fund (DAF) payments solution DAFpay™️, which will allow DonorDrive clients to accept DAF payments online through their existing DonorDrive donation forms. The new feature is expected to be available in the DonorDrive platform at the end of January 2024.

Individual giving experienced a 6.4% year-over-year decline in 2022, according to Giving USA. In contrast, the National Philanthropic Trust found that Donor Advised Fund giving grew 9.1% in their 2023 DAF Report. This coupled with the fact that the average DAF gift is $4,798 (per Fidelity's annual DAF donor report) makes Donor Advised Funds a key focus for fundraising teams. The 2023 DAF report also found that in 2022, donors gave $52 billion from DAFs – yet $229 billion is still held in these charitable savings accounts waiting to be donated to qualified 501(c)(3) organizations. As nonprofit organizations face an increasing amount of pressure to raise funds, accepting DAF gifts directly in their online giving forms offers enterprise nonprofits an opportunity to reach a wider demographic of highly generous donors and make giving as convenient as possible for them.

Many DonorDrive clients already accept DAF gifts, but processing these donations is tedious and time-consuming for both internal staff and donors. With DAFpay™️ by Chariot, donors can grant directly from their DAF account to a nonprofit’s DonorDrive fundraising campaign or event. The benefiting organization will receive immediate access to details including the gift amount, donation status, and the donor’s contact information in the DonorDrive platform. With all of this information saved in one place, nonprofits will have a simpler way to engage donors and help drive donor retention. The organization will also receive all these DAF gifts electronically, saving meaningful staff time while reducing the risk of lost or stolen checks.

DAFpay™️ will be an available payment option for all DonorDrive donation experiences, including DonorDrive’s newly released Embedded Donation Forms. In addition to DAFpay™️, DonorDrive offers a variety of donor payment options: all major credit cards, multi-currency, ACH, and digital wallet options PayPal, Apple Pay, and Venmo.

“Across the philanthropy industry, nonprofits are searching for expanded and creative ways to increase funds raised as individual giving declines significantly,” said Kasey Cuppoletti, Senior Vice President, Product at DonorDrive. “At DonorDrive, we’re constantly looking for innovative ways to help our clients combat those trends and acquire more donors. Through our collaboration with Chariot, Donor Advised Funds provide a great opportunity for our clients to increase revenue, reduce friction in the donation process, and improve efficiency for their internal teams.”

“Having a Donor Advised Fund payment option superpowers fundraising efforts and creates a more streamlined experience for donors," said Aaron Kahane, Co-Founder and COO of Chariot. "By collaborating with DonorDrive, we’re making it easy for donors to contribute directly to the organization of their choice, especially as part of high impact peer-to-peer campaigns. We estimate more than 3 million donors have access to Donor Advised Funds. DAFpay™️ by Chariot simplifies the DAF donor giving experience, increasing conversion rates and donation frequency, and helping nonprofits steward their donors by enhancing the ability to thank and connect with donors immediately after a donation is made.”

About DonorDrive:

DonorDrive, an EngageSmart solution, is an advanced digital fundraising platform for nonprofits that turns everyday people into powerful fundraisers. Drive more revenue for your cause with the most immersive, connected, and well-designed fundraising experience ever made. For more than 20 years, DonorDrive has helped hundreds of nonprofits like Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Covenant House, Doctors Without Borders, Muscular Dystrophy Association, World Vision and hundreds more to raise billions of dollars. To learn more about DonorDrive, visit www.donordrive.com.

About EngageSmart:

EngageSmart is a leading provider of vertically tailored customer engagement software and integrated payments solutions. At EngageSmart, our mission is to simplify customer and client engagement to allow our customers to focus resources on initiatives that improve their businesses and better serve their communities. EngageSmart offers single instance, multi-tenant, true Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) vertical solutions, including SimplePractice, InvoiceCloud, and DonorDrive, that are designed to simplify our customers’ engagement with their clients by driving digital adoption and self-service. As of September 30, 2023, EngageSmart serves 116,200 customers in the SMB Solutions segment and 3,400 customers in the Enterprise Solutions segment across several core verticals: Health & Wellness, Government, Utilities, Financial Services, and Giving. For more information, visit www.engagesmart.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

About Chariot:

Chariot is the only Donor Advised Fund (DAF) fundraising solution for nonprofits. DAFs are the fastest growing funding source in philanthropy and hold $230 billion that’s waiting to be donated. The problem is that DAFs are impossible to use in the places donors are most inspired to give (donation forms, peer-to-peer campaigns & live events) and create a processing nightmare for nonprofits to manage. Chariot unlocks more DAF gifts faster by integrating 3-click DAF giving into any digital donation experience with DAFpay™️. Chariot also enables real-time capture of DAF donor name & email for effective stewardship and fully electronic processing for seamless payouts. You can try a demo here and learn more at www.givechariot.com.

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