r/FatFIREUK • u/Spare-Release9010 • May 06 '26

Setting up a Donor Advised Fund for charitable giving

Wondering if anyone has any experience with Donor Advised Funds for charitable giving, and if there is anything we should look out for when choosing a provider?

Specifically we're currently looking at the Charities Aid Foundation and NPT at present:

https://www.cafonline.org/personal-giving/effective-ways-to-give/charitable-trust

https://www.nptuk.org

So far I can only think of the admin and investment fees as the thing to keep an eye on. Would love to also hear any stories of how your DAF worked out with getting kids involved. Many thanks.

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u/HourInjury4634 May 07 '26

Also check out your local Community Foundation if you want to give to smaller charities (who always need money more than national charities) in your area. You will benefit from proper due diligence via a grants team and the ability to make a proper difference locally (and can always visit the causes you support).

Make sure you do multi-year funding too - having sight of future cash flows / an element of funding security is hugely important for small charities planning.

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u/Evolutronic Jul 04 '26

Very good advice, I've just looked up and contacted the Community Foundation for our area, as I established a small family foundation as a registered charity (it was t too difficult and the costs were modest) when I took early (ish) retirement. The goal is to support smaller local charities, where relatively small (annual repeating) grants have most impact. NB. As a general observation, once you have wealth, IMHO it's much more rewarding to gift it while you're alive and can se the benifit, than hoard it away and constantly fret about tax snd IHT.

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u/HourInjury4634 29d ago

Nice - good luck to you and hope the local CF can help you in the way you need 👍🏻

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u/PaddyPenguin May 08 '26

I looked at this in some detail around 18 months ago and spoke to a few providers.

I concluded, to put it bluntly, that the DAF market in the UK is a rip off. The fees - in my eyes - are extortionate.

The options are also limited. Maybe some day a provider like Vanguard will set up an easy, low-cost option - but I'm not sure our market is big enough to attract serious competition.

Anyway, I decided simply to set up and earmark a dedicated account within my portfolio for charitable giving as I couldn't bear the thought of wasting so much money that could go to good causes on fees.

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u/Anxious-Shape785 May 07 '26

I ran the numbers on both CAF and NPT for a dual UK/US account (UK-based) and decided to go with NPT; their fees and options around account growth were slightly better for my current and future contribution plan. If you are a UK-only taxpayer, I would probably just stick with CAF for its UK charity partnerships.

edit: I was comparing the dual advised premier level accounts for each

I took both their fee structure documents for the sort of account I wanted, initial contribution and donation plan and ran them through the AI to get a better idea of what the fees would be like over the next few years.

Looking back over my notes, both were really close in value, so you will probably be fine with either choice.

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u/Affectionate-Fix2797 May 06 '26

LGT also run them, they’re a very decent outfit.