Most Catholics with a donor-advised fund already give to good things. The parish. The local Catholic school. A pregnancy center. Maybe a mission abroad that a cousin told them about.

That is beautiful, and it counts. But at some point many donors start asking a deeper question. Is my giving shaped by what the Church actually teaches, or just by what I happen to care about?

Catholic social teaching is one of the Church's great gifts for answering that. It is not a list of approved charities. It is a way of seeing. And it can shape a DAF in ways that turn out to be surprisingly practical.

A quick refresher on Catholic social teaching

Catholic social teaching is the Church's body of teaching on how we live together in society. It runs from Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum in 1891 through Centesimus Annus, Caritas in Veritate, Laudato Si', Fratelli Tutti, and more recent writing.

The U.S. bishops often summarize it in seven themes:

1. Life and dignity of the human person

2. Call to family, community, and participation

3. Rights and responsibilities

4. Option for the poor and vulnerable

5. The dignity of work and the rights of workers

6. Solidarity

7. Care for God's creation

Two other principles show up constantly: the common good and subsidiarity, the idea that decisions should be made at the most local level that can handle them well.

You do not need to master all of it before you give. Knowing the shape of it helps.

Start with the person, not the cause

The first principle is the foundation for the rest: every human being has inherent dignity because each one is made in the image of God.

For a DAF holder, that changes the opening question. Instead of "which cause should I fund?" it becomes "who am I trying to serve, and does this organization see them as persons?"

You can usually tell. Look at how an organization talks about the people it serves. Are they "clients," "beneficiaries," "cases"? Or are they named, known, and invited to take part? Does the organization ask for their input? Do people who once received help ever come back as volunteers or staff?

None of this is a dealbreaker on its own. But it is a signal.

Let subsidiarity shape where you give

Subsidiarity is one of the most practical principles for funders, and one of the most overlooked.

It leans toward local, rooted organizations that know their communities, rather than distant ones trying to solve everything from headquarters. It also leans toward supporting families and small institutions, like parishes, schools, and neighborhood groups, instead of replacing them.

In practice, that might mean:

• Giving a meaningful share of your DAF within your own diocese or region

• Funding small, community-led groups alongside larger national ones

• Giving unrestricted money so local leaders can decide how to use it

• Asking whether a program strengthens families or quietly substitutes for them

Subsidiarity is not against large organizations. Big Catholic agencies do things no parish could. It is about getting the level right.

Build in the option for the poor

The preferential option for the poor asks us to look at every decision through the eyes of those with the least. For a funder, that is a searching question. Of everything I gave this year, how much reached people who are actually poor or vulnerable?

For many donors, the honest answer is "less than I thought." A lot of Catholic giving goes, rightly, to institutions we love: our parish, our alma mater, our kids' school. Those gifts matter. It is still worth checking the balance.

We go much deeper on this in Writing Grant Criteria From the Preferential Option for the Poor.

Remember solidarity and the global Church

St. John Paul II described solidarity, in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, as a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good. Not a vague feeling of compassion. A commitment.

For DAF holders, solidarity can mean:

• Including the global Church in your giving, not only local needs

• Making multi-year commitments instead of one-off gifts, so partners can plan

• Staying with an organization through a hard season instead of leaving at the first bad year

That last one is underrated. Loyal funders are rare, and they make an enormous difference.

Do not forget the dignity of work

It is easy to fund programs and overlook the people running them. The Church has a great deal to say about just wages and the dignity of workers.

Ask your grantees. Can you pay your staff fairly? Are your frontline workers burning out? Unrestricted and multi-year grants often do more for staff well-being than any program grant ever could. If an organization serving the poor cannot pay its own people a living wage, that is something a thoughtful funder can help with.

Care for creation

Laudato Si' made care for creation impossible to set aside as part of Catholic life. You do not have to become an environmental funder to take it seriously. You can:

• Support Catholic organizations helping poor communities with clean water, farming, and the care of the land they depend on

• Ask grantees about their own practices where it is relevant

• Look at whether the investments in your DAF reflect the same values

Your DAF's investments count too

This one surprises people. The money sitting in your DAF before you grant it out is invested somewhere. If you are going to be careful about where your grants go, it makes sense to ask the same questions about the investments.

Many Catholic DAF sponsors offer portfolios screened according to the U.S. bishops' Socially Responsible Investment Guidelines. Ask your sponsor:

• Do you offer a Catholic-screened investment option?

• What does it screen out, and what does it actively seek?

• Do you engage with companies as a shareholder on Catholic concerns?

If your sponsor does not offer that, it is a reasonable thing to weigh when you are choosing one. See Choosing a Catholic DAF Sponsor: Questions Faithful Funders Should Ask.

A simple review of your giving

Here is an exercise you can do in an evening. Pull last year's grant history from your DAF and sort each gift into rough buckets:

• Parish and diocese

• Catholic education

• Direct service to the poor and vulnerable

• Life and family

• Global Church and missions

• Creation and care of the land

• Other

Then ask:

1. Does this mix reflect what I believe matters most?

2. Is anyone obviously missing?

3. Am I funding mostly large organizations, or a mix?

4. How much went out as multi-year or unrestricted support?

You will probably find a few surprises. Most people do. That is not a reason for guilt. It is a starting point for next year's plan, which we walk through in From Reactive Giving to a Strategy.

Pray with it

It is worth saying plainly. Catholic social teaching is not a management framework. It flows from the Gospel. The Church gives it to us so that our love for neighbor can be wise and not only sincere.

Before you finalize your grants for the year, bring them to prayer. Read Matthew 25. Ask where Christ is hidden in the people your fund touches, and where he might be waiting in someone you have not thought to look for yet.

Learn it alongside others

The Church's social tradition is rich, and it is easier to grow in it with other people. Inside the Philanthropy community, members study it together, hear from people living it out on the ground, and talk honestly about what it looks like in their own giving. If you are hungry to go deeper, you would be in good company.