At Maveron, we were at the frontlines of commerce moving online, making purchasing decisions easier for consumers than ever before. But how about charitable giving and the nonprofit sector, more broadly? Today, only 12% of annual giving is conducted online via modern payment methods like credit cards, while the rest is handled through offline channels. One of those offline methods we’ve seen gain traction (and we personally use across our team) is Donor-Advised Funds, which involves setting up an investment account solely for the purpose of charitable giving.
Enter Chariot, a company that moves Donor-Advised Funds into the online world, making it easier than ever for donors to give from their DAFs while arming non-profits with a dedicated payment network of their own. The trendlines couldn’t be more clear: Grants from DAFs have increased annually since 2009; up to $52.16 billion per the most recent report from the National Philanthropic Trust.
Maveron is proud to lead Chariot’s $11 million Series A financing. Chariot now makes direct DAF payments on behalf of many of the largest nonprofits in the country, such as the American Cancer Society, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Boys & Girls Club of America, The Michael J. Fox Foundation, ACLU, Central Park Conservancy, Pan-Mass Challenge, and March of Dimes.
Chariot is behind DAFpay, a three-click payment option that can be embedded into any website or donation form. DAFpay allows donors to use their DAFs directly on nonprofit websites at the moment of inspiration. This innovation helps unlock more of the $230 billion in DAFs that is already set aside for charitable giving, as well as arming nonprofits with better analytics.
You may also have spotted Chariot’s DAFpay as a new native payment option in the online donation checkout for fundraising platforms like GoFundMe charity pages, Givebutter, DonorDrive, Springboard by Jackson River, Engaging Networks, and dozens more. To further encourage DAF donations, Chariot recently introduced DAF Day, the first national giving day specifically dedicated to Donor-Advised Funds. Off the back of this momentum, Chariot formed a Nonprofit Advisory Council comprised of leaders from many of the most well-known charities in the country to help shape the future of DAF giving.
On a macro level, philanthropy is down, in part because of inflation and the fluctuations in the stock market. Charitable giving dropped 2.3 percent in 2023, according to the most recent Giving USA report. DAFs are a shining light. Not only are DAFs the fastest-growing vehicle in philanthropy but if a donor was previously giving to a nonprofit through a non-DAF vehicle (a credit card, for instance), and switched over to a DAF, their giving to that organization increases by an average of 96%.
We are looking to invest in generational companies that transform the consumer experience. Chariot — and its team — exemplifies this to its core. Long before Chariot was founded in May 2022 with the mission to accelerate philanthropy, the founders grew up helping charities as a core part of their values. Salo Serfati, the company’s CEO, was born in Venezuela and has always felt determined to help others in need, after witnessing hyperinflation wipe out the savings of millions of people. At 14 years old, he started bringing a Ziploc bag or Coke can to school to collect spare change for different causes. Aaron Kahane, Chariot’s COO, started a nonprofit organization in high school to address food deserts in nearby neighborhoods in the Bronx. Drew Schneider, Chariot’s CPO, would wake up before school to glean unused crops from farms that could be donated to local agencies.
Those early experiences were the seeds of inspiration that led to Chariot. When Salo first learned about DAFs, and the potential to simplify the donation process, he was compelled to make them easier to use. When Dan and Hunter at Maveron first met the Chariot team in January 2024, they immediately saw the potential. A few months later, Dan Levitan joined the board. We are proud to be part of Chariot’s journey to make charitable giving easier for donors and nonprofits.
Today, the Chariot team is 12-strong, based in NYC, and is hiring across engineering, product, and go-to-market roles. To learn more, please visit their Careers page or reach out directly at Contact@givechariot.com.
In addition, Chariot invites you to join DAF Day on October 10th, where donors, nonprofits, and DAFs can come together in support of charitable causes. Onwards!
