Your community foundation can give your DAF holders a better experience by putting their balance, gift and grant history, and grant recommendations in one secure place. GOfund, the akoyaGO fundholder portal, does exactly that. Fundholders log in and manage their funds themselves, without calling your staff for help. Meanwhile, your staff keep control of approvals, data integrity, nonprofit due diligence, and donor engagement in one centralized system.
Donor advised funds are one of the most talked-about areas in philanthropy right now, and DAF holders expect the same ease for charitable giving that they get from the rest of their online life.
Why are donor advised funds getting so much attention?
Donor advised funds now account for nearly 25% of all charitable giving in the United States, according to research from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Amir Pasic, the school's Eugene R. Tempel Dean, explained what is driving the growth:
That is an opening for your community foundation, where the mission is local giving. The question is whether your DAF holders can easily act on that intent. When recommending a grant takes emails, phone calls, and paper forms, the experience falls short of what donors expect. A portal like GOfund makes giving simple for your DAF holders.
What can DAF holders do in GOfund?
GOfund is akoyaGO's self-service fundholder portal. DAF holders are one of the groups it serves, along with other fundholders at your foundation. Inside GOfund, fundholders can:
- →See real-time balances. Fundholders can check their fund at any hour without contacting staff.
- →Review gift and grant history. Every contribution and grant appears in one place, with an exportable view.
- →Download fund statements. Financial reports pull directly from the CRM and accounting platform, so statements stay current and easy to access.
- →Recommend grants. Fundholders can recommend grants to nonprofits or other funds held at your foundation, directly from their fund, and your staff review and process them.
- →Review shared documents. Your staff can share global and fund-specific documents that fundholders view and download in the portal.
- →Access only what they should. Permission-based access controls for each fund and fundholder protect privacy and security.
How does a DAF grant recommendation move through GOfund?
A fundholder submits a grant recommendation in GOfund, and it flows straight into your foundation's akoyaGO CRM for staff review. GOfund is configurable to fit your process, but a typical path looks like this:
- →The fundholder logs in and selects their fund.
- →The fundholder submits a recommendation, including the grant purpose and any notes.
- →The request connects to the fundholder's donor record in akoyaGO CRM. Login activity and supporting documents attach to the request.
- →Your staff review and approve it using the views and approvals that fit your process.
- →GOverify checks nonprofit status. GOverify confirms the recipient's status with the IRS (and CRA for Canadian organizations) before payment is initiated.
- →The grant is paid. The fund balance and gift and grant history update, and the fundholder sees the result, along with the status of each stage, in GOfund.
What benefits does GOfund offer foundation staff?
Aside from increased donor engagement and centralized data management, electronic fund statements can save your staff hours every quarter. Wes Scott, Director of Marketing and Communications at Community Foundation of Southern Indiana, described his first all-electronic statement run in GOfund:
Two results stand out. The staff saved real time, and fundholders showed up in the portal the same day. That second result matters. A fundholder who logs in is a fundholder who is paying attention to their giving.
What do foundations say about GOfund?
Are fundholders actually using GOfund?
Yes. Across akoyaGO client foundations, GOfund activity grew rapidly in the first six months of 2026 compared with the same six months of 2025. The comparison uses the same client foundations in both periods.
| Measure | January to June 2025 | January to June 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| GOfund portal logins | 28,254 | 46,981 (up 66%) |
| Grant recommendations submitted | 4,280 | 10,323 (up 141%) |
| Directed to grantees through recommendations | $33.16M | $78.6M (up 137%) |
Source: akoyaGO EMPOWERED 2026 opening session, July 2026.
What should a foundation look for in a DAF portal?
Look for a portal that reduces work for your fundholders and for your staff at the same time. Ask these five questions:
- →Does it connect to your CRM and fund records? If your staff manually enter recommendations, the portal only moves the work and does not reduce time spent.
- →Can fundholders recommend grants themselves? Self-service requests cut emails and phone calls.
- →Is nonprofit status verified before payment? Verification protects your foundation and your fundholders.
- →Can you deliver statements electronically? Printing and mailing are some of the biggest hidden time costs.
- →Does it work well on a mobile device? GOfund's interface was updated in 2026 to be more intuitive and responsive on mobile.
Frequently asked questions
What is a donor advised fund?
A donor advised fund is a charitable account held at a sponsoring organization, such as a community foundation. The donor contributes to it and recommends grants to qualified nonprofits over time.
Can DAF holders recommend grants online with GOfund?
Yes. DAF holders submit grant recommendations in GOfund. Your staff review and process them in akoyaGO CRM, using the review process that fits your needs.
Does GOfund replace DAFpay?
No. GOfund does not replace DAFpay, because they serve different sides of DAF giving. DAFpay helps donors pay nonprofits from their DAFs. GOfund gives fundholders a full portal to manage funds held at your foundation.
Is GOfund only for donor advised funds?
No. GOfund is the akoyaGO fundholder portal. DAF holders are one group it serves, and the same portal supports all other fundholders your foundation grants access to.
How does GOfund fit with the rest of akoyaGO?
GOfund works with akoyaGO CRM, so requests tie to contact records. GOfund sits alongside GOverify for nonprofit status checks and GOdonate for online giving. akoyaGO is built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and designed for foundations.
See GOfund in action
Your fundholders want to give. Make it easy for them. Talk with the akoyaGO team about how GOfund can give your DAF holders one place to see their fund, recommend grants, and stay close to your foundation.
Ameliea Dulaney brings more than seven years of marketing experience rooted entirely in the philanthropic sector. Her career began at a small nonprofit in her hometown, where a lifelong passion for mission-driven work and a natural gift for storytelling found their professional home. Over the years she built her expertise across multiple nonprofit organizations before transitioning into the foundation world, where she led marketing for a community foundation. That experience gave her a deep, firsthand understanding of how foundations operate, what they need, and how to communicate their impact. She joined akoyaGO to bring that perspective to the technology side of philanthropy, helping foundations do good better.
