New investment option from San Francisco–based RSF gives DAF holders with accounts at any sponsoring institution a new way to double their impact
San Francisco, CA (February 3, 2025)—Impact-investing trailblazer RSF is offering Donor-Advised Fund holders with accounts at any sponsoring institution a way to double their DAF’s impact by activating idle assets to directly fund social enterprises.
The new Double Impact DAF program is built on a successful 2024 pilot that revealed keen interest in putting DAF assets to work by investing them in the RSF Social Investment Fund (SIF). RSF offered a subset of its clients the opportunity to move a portion of their ungranted DAF assets into the SIF, which provides customized financing to social enterprises working to regenerate communities and planet. The result: DAF holders moved about $16 million—about 24% of RSF’s total DAF assets—into the SIF by the end of 2024.
“The strong response to the pilot encouraged us to open up this opportunity to anyone who has a DAF at RSF or elsewhere,” said Kathleen Paylor, vice president of impact investing and philanthropy at RSF. “This new program allows DAF holders to invest their assets directly in a portfolio of social enterprises that are driving social and environmental progress.”
How It Works: Activating DAF Dollars Through RSF’s Social Investment Fund
RSF’s SIF funds loans to social enterprises working in food and agriculture, climate and energy, education, and community impact.
DAF holders can move funds into the SIF and support these borrowers simply by asking their relationship manager at the sponsor organization or their financial adviser to make an external investment in RSF SIF notes, which are available for 90-day, 1-year, and 3-year terms. Most institutions have minimum account balance requirements for selecting such “off-menu” investments, typically ranging from $500,000 to $5 million.
“We say this doubles DAF impact because most DAF assets are invested in market funds with no measurable positive social or environmental impact,” Paylor said. “In contrast, investing in the SIF enables DAF holders to achieve an impact with their assets that mirrors what they’re achieving with their grant dollars—and they can keep rolling over the funds for waves of impact.”
Donors also appreciate the ability to align DAF assets with their other values-based initiatives. Worker cooperative and former RSF borrower Equal Exchange, for example, invested DAF funds in the SIF as part of the pilot initiative.
“Equal Exchange’s alternative capital model is based on worker-owner control and modest returns to investors. This means we can forward-buy coffee in volume from farmer co-ops and pay them fairly,” said Nicole Vitello, vice president at Equal Exchange. “We are happy to extend the patient capital we have received from people who believe in our work to other like-minded businesses through RSF’s Double Impact DAF program.”
New RSF Program Responds to DAF Critiques
At the end of 2023, charitable assets in DAF accounts totaled more than $251 billion, and the aggregate grant payout rate was 23.9%, according to National Philanthropic Trust. That leaves a huge cache of money sitting on the sidelines, as a chorus of critics have pointed out.
RSF’s DAF community has long been a counterweight, modeling innovative and productive use of DAFs through forward-thinking practices such as trust-based philanthropy and by granting out funds at more than twice the national rate. RSF DAFs had a 58% payout rate in 2023.
In that light, it’s no surprise that the impact sector pioneer embraced the Double Impact DAF program, and Paylor believes others will follow its lead. “DAF holders want to see their money having as much positive impact in the world as possible. RSF’s Double Impact DAF program gives them this opportunity.”
For more information on the Double Impact DAF program, contact Alex Plowden, senior manager of investor and donor relations.
About RSF
RSF’s mission is to change finance and finance change. By offering investment notes, DAFs, and loans, the San Francisco–based impact leader mobilizes money toward positive impact. Since 1984, RSF has innovated finance tools and invested in healthier food systems, climate solutions, whole-child education, community impact, and more.
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Photo by Equal Exchange
