Launching a Branded DAF Program at a Wealth Manager
A national wealth management firm wanted to bring charitable giving inside the client relationship. Its advisors were fielding growing questions about structured philanthropy, and referring clients elsewhere meant losing both the conversation and, often, the assets.
The challenge
The firm had the brand, the advisors and the client demand, but none of the operating machinery: no charitable receipting capability, no grant administration function, no donor portal and no appetite to build a charitable back office from scratch. Internal estimates put a self-build at multiple years and significant ongoing operating cost.
The approach
- White-label program design. A branded DAF offering configured on DSI’s platform, presented entirely under the firm’s identity.
- Advisor-first workflows. Fund opening integrated into the advisor’s existing client process, with digital document collection and guided onboarding.
- In-kind funding. Streamlined donation processing for publicly traded securities, the firm’s most common funding asset.
- Operations by DSI. Receipting, charity validation, grant fulfillment, reporting and donor service handled by DSI’s operations team behind the scenes.
The outcome
The firm went from decision to live program in months rather than years. Advisors gained a philanthropy conversation they could complete inside their own practice, clients gained a giving experience that matched the quality of their wealth experience, and the firm added a durable, relationship-deepening offering without hiring an operations team.
The firm kept the relationship. DSI carried the infrastructure.
This case study is a representative composite of DSI engagements, anonymized to respect partner confidentiality.