{"id":248743,"date":"2026-10-07T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewaterproject.org\/community\/?p=248743"},"modified":"2026-10-07T09:14:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T13:14:25","slug":"compound-interest-compound-impact-a-daf-day-guide-to-giving-that-lasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewaterproject.org\/community\/2026\/10\/07\/compound-interest-compound-impact-a-daf-day-guide-to-giving-that-lasts\/","title":{"rendered":"Compound Interest, Compound Impact: A DAF Day Guide to Giving That Lasts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

October 8th is DAF Day, a national day for recommending grants from donor-advised funds. Whether you’ve had a DAF for years or are just hearing the term for the first time, here’s how it works and what it can do for clean water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A donor-advised fund, or DAF, is a bit like buying yourself a gift card for generosity. You pay up front, get the tax deduction right away, and spend it on the charities you love whenever you’re ready. The only catch is that you can’t use it on yourself (and believe me, people have asked).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s one of the most useful giving tools most people have never heard of. While you decide where to give, the money in the account can be invested so it\u2019ll grow. There’s no rush on your end. Once it’s in the account, it’s committed to charity. What’s left is the fun part: deciding where it goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you give regularly, have a year with an unusual windfall, or hold stock that\u2019s grown in value, it’s worth asking your financial advisor whether a DAF makes sense for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fetching dirty water<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What patient money can do<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

People who open a DAF usually understand something about time: money that’s set aside and left to work does more than money spent in a hurry. That patience is the whole point of the account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same logic applies to what you fund with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A grant to The Water Project supports water infrastructure in Kenya, Sierra Leone, and Uganda that’s designed to keep working long after it’s built. That distinction matters. A well that fails in year three hasn’t delivered three years of impact. It\u2019s delivered three years and a return to where things started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The joy clean water brings<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Built to keep working<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we build differently. Communities identify the need and commit to the work before construction begins. Local teams handle the installation. Once the water is flowing, we keep coming back. We monitor, we repair. We stay in partnership with the community for years because we know the people who rely on that water are the first to know when something goes wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s what turns a single grant into a compounding one. The water keeps arriving. Children keep making it to school with time to spare. Parents keep the hours they used to spend walking. Health gains hold instead of eroding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Clean, safe, reliable water is priceless<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You’ll see exactly what your grant did<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most charitable giving ends with a receipt. Yours doesn’t have to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you give a gift to The Water Project, we show you exactly where it went. You’ll see the community, the water point, and the people who use it. We’ll also keep you updated in the years after construction. This sets us apart, and it\u2019s how you know your grant is still working long after you made it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you already have funds sitting with no clear destination<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of DAFs hold money that’s been sitting there for a while. The account was funded during a good year, or when a stock position needed rebalancing, or when the tax reason was obvious. Then the question of where to send it turned out to be harder than the question of whether to set it aside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If that sounds like your account, water is a reasonable place to start. It’s connected to many causes you might care about, including health outcomes, girls’ education, household income, and food security. Each of these improves when a community stops spending its mornings walking for water. You’re not choosing between causes. You’re funding the conditions that make the others possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Community training in handwashing and other hygiene<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How to recommend a grant<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most sponsors let you do this in a few minutes from your online account. You’ll need:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal name:<\/strong> The Water Project, Inc.
EIN:<\/strong> 26-1455510
Mailing address:<\/strong> P.O. Box 3353, Concord, NH 03302-3353<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some practical notes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your sponsor sends the grant on your behalf, so we’ll receive it from them rather than from you directly. You already took your charitable deduction when you funded the account, so we’ll send you an acknowledgment of the gift rather than a tax receipt. DAF grants also can’t be used to pay for anything of value in return, such as event tickets, so your grant goes straight to the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One important request: if your sponsor gives you the option to share your name and contact information, please say yes. Many DAF grants reach us anonymously, which means we can’t thank you, and which also means we can’t send you the updates that show what your grant built. And we’d hate for you to miss that part!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recommend a grant today:  https:\/\/thewaterproject.org\/donate-daf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Written by: Kim MacEwan<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior Major Gifts Officer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Water Project<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More blogs by Kim:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Close to Home: What I’m Learning About Water in My First Months at The Water Project<\/a><\/blockquote>