Be honest. How did your last few DAF grants actually happen?

For a lot of us, it goes something like this. A friend asks you to support their gala. A mailer arrives from a mission you gave to once. There is a second collection for disaster relief. Then it is December, your advisor reminds you about year-end, and you make a flurry of grants to whoever comes to mind.

None of that is bad. You helped real people. But it is reactive. Your giving is being shaped by whoever asks loudest or most recently, instead of by what you care about most.

An annual plan fixes that. It does not have to be complicated. A couple of hours, once a year, can change how your giving feels and what it does.

Why bother with a plan?

A few reasons people tell us they started:

• They felt scattered. Lots of small gifts, no sense of whether any of it added up.

• They wanted to say no without guilt. A plan gives you a reason.

• They wanted to go deeper with fewer organizations. Relationships, not transactions.

• They wanted their giving to feel like part of their faith, not just a year-end tax chore.

A plan is not about controlling everything. It is about being intentional, so there is room for both commitment and surprise.

Step 1: Begin with prayer and reflection

Before spreadsheets, sit with a few questions. Ideally with your spouse, or with your family if they are involved.

• What has God put on our hearts this year?

• Who are the people we feel most called to serve?

• Which gifts last year felt the most meaningful? Which ones felt empty?

• What are we grateful for?

Some families do this during Advent or Lent, which fits well. Others take a quiet afternoon in January. Write down what comes up, even if it is messy.

Step 2: Look back at last year

Pull your DAF's grant history from the past twelve months. Most sponsors let you download it.

Sort it into a few categories that make sense to you. For example:

• Parish and diocese

• Catholic education

• Serving the poor and vulnerable

• Life and family

• Missions and the global Church

• Other

Then notice. Where did the money actually go? How many organizations did you support? What percentage went to your top three? Did anything surprise you?

If you want a Catholic social teaching lens for this review, we lay one out in How to Align Your Donor-Advised Fund With Catholic Social Teaching.

Step 3: Choose two to four priorities

This is the most important step. Pick a small number of focus areas for the year ahead. Not ten. Two to four.

Good priorities are specific enough to guide decisions. "Helping people" is not a priority. "Supporting Catholic schools serving low-income families in our diocese" is.

You might land on something like:

1. Our parish and its outreach ministries

2. Catholic education for kids who could not otherwise afford it

3. Support for women in difficult pregnancies and their families

4. One international mission partner

Your priorities can change year to year. That is fine.

Step 4: Set a budget

Decide roughly how much you will grant this year. Some donors use a percentage of their DAF balance (5% to 10% is common, though plenty give much more). Others plan around how much they will contribute to the fund that year.

Then divide it. A simple structure that works well for many families:

• 70% to 80% to priority areas. Mostly to a few anchor organizations.

• 10% to 20% to responsive giving. The friend's gala, the disaster appeal, the new need you could not predict.

• 5% to 10% to exploration. A new organization you are getting to know, or a first gift to something you are curious about.

That responsive bucket matters. It means you can still say yes to the unexpected, without it swallowing the whole plan.

Step 5: Pick your anchor partners

Within each priority, choose one to three organizations you will support meaningfully. Fewer, larger gifts usually do more than many tiny ones. They also let you actually know the people involved.

For each anchor partner, think about:

• Unrestricted or restricted? Unrestricted support is usually most helpful.

• One year or several? A multi-year commitment lets them plan. Even a simple "we intend to give at this level for three years" is a gift.

• What relationship do you want? A visit once a year? An update call?

If you are adding a new anchor partner, run through the basics first. Our due diligence checklist can help.

Step 6: Put it on a calendar

Here is the piece that makes a plan actually happen.

• January: Reflect, review, set priorities and budget.

• February or March: Make anchor grants. Giving early in the year is a quiet kindness. Nonprofits get most of their money in December and often struggle in the spring.

• Mid-year: Check in. Visit a partner or two. Notice what has changed.

• Fall: Explore new organizations. Make exploration gifts.

• November: Make any remaining responsive gifts and plan contributions to the fund for tax purposes.

• December: Rest. Seriously. Let year-end be about Christmas instead of a grant scramble.

Step 7: Make room for the Spirit

A plan is a servant, not a master. Sometimes a need will come up that clearly matters more than what you had planned. A friend's ministry hits a crisis. A disaster devastates a community where you have ties.

That is what the responsive bucket is for. And if the need is bigger than that, it is fine to set the plan aside. Discernment is the point. The plan just makes sure you are discerning instead of drifting.

What about contributions to the fund?

A giving plan has two sides: money going into your DAF, and grants going out. It is worth thinking about both.

On the way in, talk with your advisor about timing. Some donors contribute appreciated stock instead of cash, which can avoid capital gains. Others bunch several years of contributions into a single high-income year. These are tax questions, and the rules shift, so get real advice for your situation.

On the way out, here is a gut check worth making every year. Did more go out than came in? It does not have to, especially early on. But if your fund keeps growing year after year while your grants stay flat, it may be time to ask whether the money is waiting for a good reason, or just waiting.

A one-page plan template

Here is a simple format. Fill it in and keep it somewhere you will see it.

Our giving this year is guided by: (A sentence or a verse that captures your intention.)

Priority areas:

1.

2.

3.

Annual budget: $______

Anchor partners and planned amounts:

-

Responsive giving reserve: $______

Exploration budget: $______

Key dates: Anchor grants by __. Mid-year check-in _. Year-end review ___.

Do not plan in a vacuum

The plan is yours. It is a lot easier to write when you can hear how other families do it, what they prioritize, and what they have learned after a decade of trying. Members of the Philanthropy community share giving plans, compare notes on organizations, and help each other stay honest about the goals they set. If that kind of accountability appeals to you, come see what it is like.