DAFs and Ethics in Practice with Abigail Oduol CFRE, CAP®

August 18 at 2 p.m. ET - Monthly Webinar

Planned gift practitioners are recognized for their ability to guide donors through nuanced, values-laden decisions—yet many of us have been comparatively quiet about what our newest mainstream tool, the donor-advised fund (DAF), is doing to the practice itself. 

This lecture uses DAFs as a case study to examine not only their operational advantages, but their ethical effects: how intermediation can fragment responsibility across donors, advisors, sponsoring institutions, and time; how “donor-centered” practice shifts when giving becomes account-based; and how incentives and metrics can narrow philanthropic imagination. 

The session is intentionally inquiry-driven rather than pro/anti-DAF, equipping experienced planners to name the tensions they already encounter and to engage them with professional clarity.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Identify the distinct ways DAFs can reshape responsibility, power, and ethical meaning in planned giving—separate from questions of individual intent or “good” use.

• Surface and analyze recurring professional tensions (donor-centered vs community-centered practice; gifts vs accounts; efficiency vs accountability) in donor and advisor conversations.

• Apply an ethical vocabulary and set of discussion prompts to reduce “strategic silence” and strengthen decision-making, communication, and institutional alignment around DAF-related gifts.

Presenter: Abigail Oduol CFRE, CAP®

Abigail Oduol CFRE, CAP® has worked in the nonprofit sector for nearly 20 years in Healthcare, refugee resettlement, international development and the environment. Abigail received her BA in political science from University of California, Irvine and MA in Transformational Urban Leadership from Azusa Pacific University with the majority of the program taking place in Kenya. 
 
Abigail enjoys communicating about fundraising through speaking and writing. She is an active part of Community Centric Fundraising and Is the program chair for Southern California Charitable Gift Planners. Abigail lives in California with husband and two young children, who she knows will be excellent adults because of how hard they are to parent.