Adding a family member to a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) offers both practical and personal benefits. It allows you to share the joy and responsibility of charitable giving, fostering a culture of philanthropy across generations. By involving loved ones in grant recommendations and investment decisions, you can pass along your values, engage them in meaningful conversations about impact, and create a shared legacy. It also streamlines giving for the whole family, enabling coordinated contributions and simplifying tax reporting under one charitable vehicle.
Add Family Members and Friends to your DAF
Click My Family in the left navigation bar > click Add a Member within the Family Tree component:
Enter the family member or friend’s full name, email, phone number (optional), and define the relationship using the dropdown. If desired, the Head of Household can specify a giving budget to allocate to this relative or friend, which is available for them to grant to charities of their choosing and is deducted from the overall DAF balance. Note that the relationships offered include a child, spouse, parent or friend.
Note: if chosen to toggle on the role of Head of Household, that individual will have full access to the platform and DAF in the same way that the primary account holder does, including the ability to contribute to the DAF, add family members, define supported causes, and much more. Keeping this toggle in the off position will limit the family member or friends capabilities primarily to granting.
Until the invitation to join the DAF has been accepted, the family member's status will show as "Not activated yet". If the recipient did not receive the invite, you can click on the family member profile to Resend Invite or Remove the Member altogether.
In the recipient's inbox, an invitation to join BlueGive will be available for acceptance.
Clicking Get Started will bring the recipient to an input form to create a password and complete the setup of their Giving Account.
Setting up a Family Tree
Depending on the relationship that was defined during the Add a Member process, a Family Tree will automatically be created whereby children, friends, and parents are connected through a vertical relationship to the individual they were mapped against while spouses and siblings will be connected horizontally.
To update the relationship and therefore adjusting an individuals card on the family tree, simply click into their card and adjust the relationship dropdown:
Assigning Roles to Family Members
There are three roles you can assign when inviting a member to join your DAF:
Head of Household
Family Member
Friend
The Head of Household has full access to the platform in the same way that the primary account holder does, including the ability to contribute to the DAF, add family members, define supported causes, update the mission statement, and much more.
Assigning an individual to the role of family member or friend limits their capabilities primarily to granting. They will only be able to view the giving dollars you've allocated to them and from there they can grant the funds out to a charity of their choice but within any limitations set by the Head of Household (who may limit the charities or causes the family can grant to). Family Members or Friends will not be able to view the overall DAF balance, make contributions, view other family members granting amounts, or invite others to join the DAF.
To update an existing Family Member's role to Head of Household, go to My Family > click Edit Preferences in the top right corner and scroll down to the Roles & Permissions section. From here, you can grant anyone Head of Household access.
Be sure to Save & Close when done making any changes.
Allocating a Giving Budget to Family Members
If not entered during the invitation process, a Head of Household can allocate a family member a giving budget to grant out to charity. In the Edit Preferences section within the My Family page, the HoH can scroll to the bottom to Edit any Giving Budget allocated to family and friends. This amount is deducted from the overall DAF balance and locked for granting by said family member, unless the HoH adjusts the amount.
All adjustments will be immediately reflected in the family members detail card as a Giving Budget while also limiting their ability to grant more than this amount. Should the family member hit their giving goal, the Head of Household would need to update this amount in order to unlock additional budget for granting by the family member or friend.
