Mary’s Meals publishes free DAF guide
Howard Lake | 14 September 2026 | News
Mary’s Meals has published a free guide aimed at helping other charities understand and engage with Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs), an income stream the international school-feeding charity says is growing quickly but remains poorly understood across the sector.
The toolkit, produced by Mary’s Meals in collaboration with fundraising and philanthropy advisory firm Chapel & York, explains how DAFs work, why donors use them, and how charities can work effectively with DAF providers. Mary’s Meals says the guide received more than 180 downloads within its first week.
A confusing income stream, even for experienced fundraisers
The guide was written by Carolyn Parry, Philanthropy and Partnerships Manager at Mary’s Meals, who says she found DAFs confusing when she first encountered them professionally. Complex terminology, the anonymity of donors, and a lack of resources aimed specifically at charities can make DAFs a difficult income stream to access and understand.
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Carolyn Parry said:
“While there is plenty of information available about DAFs, much of it is written from a financial or advisory perspective. This guide is intended to do something slightly different, to look at DAFs from a charity perspective and to help industry professionals feel more confident engaging with them in practice.”
DAF giving’s growth in the UK
Mary’s Meals cites figures showing DAF giving in the UK has increased by 130% over the past five years (Philanthropy Impact), with broader adoption reported across Europe as advisers increasingly raise DAFs in client conversations (alliancemagazine.org). Separate figures from NPT UK put UK charitable assets held in DAFs at around £2.8 billion in 2023, growing 10.7% year on year, with £645 million granted to charities that year.
The charity says DAFs can also be a useful way to start conversations with donors who want to give regularly, involve family members in their giving, or structure their philanthropy more strategically over time.
Marnie Middlemiss, Global Executive Director of Foundations at Chapel & York, said:
“DAFs are changing the way people give, quietly, strategically, and in family or friend groups. They can be a bit of a puzzle for fundraisers at first: the gift comes via a DAF ‘sponsor’ or provider, the name isn’t always obvious, the timing isn’t entirely yours. But with a bit of preparation and some sensible processes, DAFs can become a really dependable route to mid-size and major gifts.”
Mary’s Meals provides school meals to more than three million children a day across 16 countries. The free DAF guide is available to download from the Mary’s Meals UK website.
- Tastecard raises £270k for Mary’s Meals over four years (31 August 2017)
- Donor-advised Funds continue to show growth in the UK (13 April 2023)
- Part 2 of Philanthropy 2035 published (10 June 2026)
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.