“It’s quite difficult to effectively give away large amounts of money,” Laughton said. If the tax code lets them commit money to charity before they have a plan, “it’s a good thing, not a bad thing.”

More Rules
Many charities are happy to work with DAF holders.

“They serve a really vital purpose for a lot of families,” said Jeremy Kraut-Ordover, vice president of individual giving at Habitat for Humanity International. “It provides a tool for people to put more thought in a longer-term philanthropic plan.”

In the past, wealthy families planning out decades of giving would establish foundations. But they come with more rules and scrutiny than DAFs. They must distribute at least 5% annually and regularly file public reports.

Roughly 20% of DAF assets go to charity each year. That’s far more than the typical foundation, but the figure lumps together donors who give quickly, using their DAFs like charitable checking accounts, and those who sit on money and let it grow indefinitely. DAF providers won’t release more detailed data, citing privacy concerns.

The Rishers’ goal with #HalfMyDAF is simply to remind families that they control DAFs and that nonprofits are desperate.

“You should be giving a huge check now rather than three smaller checks over three years,” Jennifer Risher told donors. “That nonprofit might not be around in three years.”

‘Baby Step’
Last month, more than 260 philanthropists, including Walt Disney Co. heiress Abigail Disney and members of the billionaire Pritzker family, urged Congress to force DAFs and private foundations to donate more. Their three-year “emergency charity stimulus” plan aims to generate $200 billion of additional giving by imposing a 10% annual payout requirement on DAFs and foundations.

Congress isn’t likely to go along, but lawmakers and policy experts are putting more scrutiny on the approximately $1 trillion held by charitable vehicles. Tax breaks for charity cost the U.S. Treasury more than $40 billion a year.

“We need to have a better way to encourage money to come out of these funds to nonprofits that need it,” said Roger Colinvaux, a law professor at Catholic University of America in Washington, calling the CARES Act a “baby step” toward reform.