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  • 1.  DAF Day / Chariot

    Posted 09-19-2025 11:42 AM

    Hello, everyone!

    Some of our fundraisers would like to for us take a more active roll in participating in the upcoming "DAF Day" (https://app.dafday.com/), by officially enrolling our nonprofit organization on the Chariot platform (https://www.givechariot.com/).

    From what I can tell, this process would involve verifying our non-profit--i.e. providing details to prove that we are actually who we say we are and providing banking information to arrange future ACH payments from Chariot.

    I am writing to see if anyone has had experience using Chariot?

    If so, what has your experience been like? Does Chariot issue timely ACH payments? What type of donor information do they send along with the payments (donor names, information on the donor's DAF brokerage)? Have you had any issues/frustrations with the platform?

    I would be very grateful for any insight you guys can can provide as we continue to contemplate setting up ("verifying") our own Chariot account.

    Aaron



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    Aaron T. Currence
    University of New Mexico Foundation
    aaron.currence@unmfund.org
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  • 2.  RE: DAF Day / Chariot

    Posted 09-29-2025 09:35 AM
    Hi Aaron,

    I'm a current Chariot customer (UNICEF USA) and joined the organization after we had been customers for about six months. I have some feedback and thoughts. My caveats include that there are different levels of support and access; I'm currently on Professional. Also, it's a young-ish company and my impression is that they are nimble and still working things out. For example:

    1. Since we became customers in October 2024, they have developed/are in the process of launching an additional layer of service. I'm not currently on it and from a customer service standpoint, I have concerns that there wasn't proactive reachout about "Hey, we're offering new customers XYZ and want to make sure you're up to speed on it." That said, the new features could be very helpful. I learned about the new features at Summit this month and had a follow up call last week.
    2. Financial disbursements, from your Chariot linked bank account to your org bank account, are made at most twice a month. Currently, this is a manual process which means my CFO has a reminder on their calendar to login and push a button every two weeks. I have shared my concerns with the manual process and the twice a month frequency. Both items of feedback have been well received.
    3.  The twice a month disbursement is troublesome to me from a donor perspective. While one of the marketing points is that I'll be able to see a donor's DAF gift immediately, I don't record anything in the CRM until we have the money in the bank and I am hesitant to send out acknowledgements prior to recording (not to mention all the implications of setting up a separate process for one of our revenue streams).
    4. We currently just have access to DAF Pay so the promise of receiving extra information is only as good as what people would normally send through with their DAF gift. Meaning, I still receive a number of seemingly anonymous gifts through the Chariot portal.
    5. I haven't been able to find release notes or an overall development plan. This is part of what leads me to think they are young and nimble, which has its pros and cons. I'd like to see more long term strategy and understand what's coming down the pipeline. Of course, I just might not be there yet in our relationship.
    6. We receive checks and wires from both Fidelity and Fidelity Charitable. One of my open questions with Chariot is whether connecting our Fidelity Charitable account is worth it since, at least at the moment, it seems to me like we'll still be receiving donor information in spreadsheets from Fidelity and Fidelity Charitable and I don't want to add de-duping to our current process.

    From a verification perspective, you don't need to be a Chariot customer. So, instead of getting checks/wires from one third party, you can potentially streamline them through Chariot's system. But it's not turned on for all systems (Schwab, Fidelity Charitable, etc) so you'll still be working with multiple third parties. 

    I'm still learning and trying to understand both the big picture and ensure that the logistics for receiving and entering gifts work for our processes, serving both our donors and my team well. I am interested in other's thoughts and experience!

    Elizabeth
    Director, Donor Revenue, Management, and Records
    UNICEF USA



    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: DAF Day / Chariot

    Posted 09-30-2025 08:45 AM

    Elizabeth,

    Thanks so much for sharing your experience. We are still shopping, but are interested in onboarding this product so this user experience is very helpful. The duplication of notifications is definitely a huge thing to consider. And the manual management.

    Chariot does have some testimonials on their resources page.  It may be helpful for others to reach out to our AASP peers to hear more insight into the behind the scenes process as well.



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    Karen Sims-Harrell
    National Geographic Society
    ksimsharrell@ngs.org
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: DAF Day / Chariot

    Posted 10-10-2025 08:06 AM

    Good morning.  We are also looking at DAF Pay as an option for receiving donor advised funds.  What I have read so far on the forum has been very helpful.  It seems like Chariot has been making a big push to get themselves out there lately.  I would be interested in hearing from others that are either looking at or already are working with their program.   We already receive a number of our DAF gifts through ACH.

    Thanks in advance,



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    Margaret McGraw
    Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
    MMcGraw@CWF.org
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    Original Message


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