By Jacqueline M. Demczur and Terrance S. Carter

On October 27, 2025, the Canadian Association of Gift Planners (CAGP) Foundation released Empowering Philanthropy: An Overview of Donor-Advised Funds, consisting of a main guide (“Guide”) and focused companion resources (“Companion Resources”) designed to enhance an understanding of donor-advised funds (DAFs), one of the fastest-growing areas of charitable giving in Canada. The Guide and Companion Resources together provide an in-depth look at how DAFs operate, their governance structures, and their implications for donors, advisors, foundations, and charities.

The Guide provides a comprehensive overview of the DAF landscape, including the history and legal structure of DAFs, the distinctions between spend-down, endowed, and flow-through funds, and the roles and responsibilities of DAF foundations and advisors. It also explores granting practices, administrative fees, investment management, succession planning related to DAFs, as well as ongoing policy discussions regarding the accumulation of capital within DAFs and the balance between donor flexibility and timely charitable impact.

For charities, the Guide highlight opportunities and challenges in engaging with DAFs. While grants from DAFs continue to grow, tensions can arise when operating charities do not receive sufficient information to properly acknowledge or steward DAF donors. The Guide encourages transparency and collaboration to strengthen relationships among donors, foundations, and recipient organizations.

The CAGP Foundation’s Empowering Philanthropy Guide is the latest helpful resource on DAFs and will serve to support transparency, accountability, and informed decision-making within Canada’s evolving philanthropic ecosystem. For additional information on DAFs, reference can be made to an earlier presentation and paper written by Jacqueline Demczur, one of the authors of this article, available at www.carters.ca.

​Read the October 2025 Charity & NFP Law Update