Chariot Launches First Gift Processing Platform for Nonprofits

Chariot’s platform is an end-to-end solution for processing DAF payments, including workplace giving. It combines a financial account with AI-powered data transformation to solve a fast-growing operational challenge that costs the 1.4 million nonprofits and thousands of grantmakers in the U.S. millions of hours annually.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Chariot, the fintech company behind DAFpay, named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2025, announced today the launch of its gift processing platform—the first solution purpose-built to streamline donor-advised fund (DAF) giving from end to end. Chariot enables nonprofits and grantmakers to send, receive, and enrich grant payments through a single secure portal. The platform uses customizable LLMs to automatically code donations and format exports that sync with users’ existing systems, eliminating millions of hours of manual gift processing work annually.

According to the DAF Research Collaborative’s Annual DAF Report, over $326 billion is already committed to giving in DAF accounts, which granted $65 billion to nonprofits in 2024 (a 19% increase from 2023). Yet as more people adopt DAF giving, nonprofit gift processors face an operational nightmare: reconciling donation data with deposits from over 1,200 different DAFs (e.g. financial institutions, community foundations, workplace giving) each with separate portals and inconsistent data formats, which leads to increasingly complex manual workflows.

Chariot's platform centers on Chariot Deposit Accounts* (CDAs) that enable nonprofits to direct DAF payments - the actual funds and associated gift data - to one place. Even mailed checks can be processed through Chariot with their integrated Digital Mailbox. The platform automatically reconciles incoming donations and uses an AI agent to apply campaign names, category codes, and other identifiers that match their CRM. Gift processors can also use LLMs to generate custom data exports that sync with existing systems like Salesforce & Blackbaud.

“Gift processing has been a growing strain on our team and Chariot has transformed the way we work,” adds Art Weinkofsky, Director of Development Information Services at Central Park Conservancy. “With manual tasks reduced across the board, we’re able to process gifts days faster and deliver an even better donor experience.”

This platform can also be directly leveraged by grantmakers to simplify their disbursements and reduce fraud risk. Traditionally, grant payments require tracking down each nonprofit's legal name, EIN, mailing address, or bank account information—details that are often outdated, difficult to verify, and hard to maintain. Checks can be lost in the mail, and manual processes create opportunities for fraud. With Chariot, grantmakers can process bulk disbursements with an API call or file upload. Funds are deposited directly into the nonprofit's CDA, creating a fast and secure payment rail. When necessary, physical checks can also be sent through Chariot’s system.

Chariot co-founders Salo Serfati (CEO) and Aaron Kahane (COO) were roommates at the University of Pennsylvania when they committed to donating 10% of their income annually. As they researched how to fulfill that pledge, they discovered donor-advised funds—a tax-advantaged vehicle for charitable giving. Drew Schneider, Chariot's Chief Product Officer, joined as the third co-founder after working with Aaron at Bain & Company.

The trio entered Y Combinator's Summer 2022 cohort and built DAFpay—a DAF-specific payment option now on over 100,000 nonprofits’ donation forms. But as more donors gave through DAFs, the team observed the mounting challenges that came with processing these types of donations - for grantmakers and nonprofits alike. This insight led Chariot to expand from a point solution to a full gift processing platform—defining a new category that unifies the entire DAF operations workflow.

“Before CRMs, nonprofits ran donor management on spreadsheets. Gift processing has been stuck in that same era of spreadsheets, SharePoint links, and nonstop email threads just to get gifts coded correctly,” says Aaron. “Our platform is the next step change, moving gift processing from manual coordination to a modern system of record.”

Unlike payment management systems built for for-profit transactions, Chariot’s platform is purpose-built for the complexities of DAF giving. Nonprofits and grantmakers interested in getting started on Chariot can reach out here or email [e-mail].

“Nonprofits are solving our most critical needs as a society, and yet there’s never been a dedicated solution to one of their biggest operational challenges—gift processing,” says Salo. “With Chariot, nonprofit teams can save time on all that manual work and focus more on achieving their visions.”

About Chariot

Chariot is a financial technology company focused on the $326 billion donor-advised fund (DAF) market. Chariot’s gift processing platform enables nonprofits and grantmakers to send, receive, and enrich grant payments through a single secure portal. DAFpay by Chariot is the industry’s first DAF payment option and was named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2025. Chariot powers DAF giving for leading nonprofits and grantmakers, including American Cancer Society, Dallas Jewish Community Foundation, and Central Park Conservancy. Learn more at https://givechariot.com.

*Chariot is a financial technology company, not a bank. Chariot Deposit Accounts are a Demand Deposit Account through our Bank Partner, Column N.A., Member FDIC. The Chariot Deposit Account is required to access Disbursements or Gift Processing. Deposits in Chariot Deposit Accounts are eligible for FDIC insurance up to $250,000 per depositor, for each insurable capacity in which the account is held.