An NFT Auction to Increase the Impact of #HalfMyDAF

29 March 2021

In 2020, we created #HalfMyDAF to inspire people with Donor Advised Funds to put more charitable dollars to work. It was a success, turning a $1 million matching fund into $8.6 million granted to nonprofits.

So this year, we're doing it again, only bigger. We're giving away $3.1 milllion in matching grants to any US nonprofit. The only requirement is that donors must commit to giving away half their DAFs this year in order to qualify their grants for matching funds. (For context, there's $140 Billion sitting in DAFs waiting to be put to work.)

Now we want to try an experiment to unlock even more giving. Inspired first by Kara Swisher’s extraordinary interview with Beeple and then by Kevin Roose's $560,000 sale of his column, we're turning the #HalfMyDAF 2020 Heroes page into a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) and putting it up for auction. All proceeds will increase this year’s fund or— hopefully, if large enough— establish the #HalfMyDAF matching fund for 2022, guaranteeing we continue with the movement next year.

Ultimately, proceeds will go to charities chosen by members of the #HalfMyDAF Community, and we’ll provide documentation as proof. If you want to bid, the only fine print is that our DAF sponsor does not accept cryptocurrency (yet!). So while your winning bid will be 100% for charitable purposes, it won’t be tax-deductible.

The auction goes live 3/31. If you win, here’s what you’ll get:

• The token itself: A unique digital collectible that corresponds to the image of the #HalfMyDAF Heroes page from 2020. 2020 was the first year of HalfMyDAF; there will never be another page that shows the beginning of the challenge.

• The recognition of being the first-ever NFT participant in a charitable challenge to inspire more giving. Hopefully this becomes a movement in itself.

• What else? We’re flexible. We'd love to meet you over a Zoom call or a post-COVID get-together. We'll arrange it and come to you. (If a message from Michael Barbarro is on your wish list, we're sorry. That's another NFT sale.)

We believe that charitable giving is stuck in an uncreative place. This is an experiment— there’s no guarantee it’ll succeed. But no matter what, the winnings will support worthy nonprofits who are doing important work. And best-case, we’ll inspire others to think creatively about charitable funding. Plus who knows? Maybe someday the NFTl will be worth more than the winner paid for it!

Thanks for being a #HalfMyDAF hero.

— Jennifer and David Risher