Research Team
DAFRC Co-Directors
Dr. H. Daniel Heist
Dr. H. Daniel Heist is an Assistant Professor of Nonprofit Management and Social Impact at the George W. Romney Institute for Public Service and Ethics at Brigham Young University. He researches philanthropy, charitable giving and volunteering. His 9 years of professional fundraising experience inform his research. Dr. Heist is a leading expert on donor-advised fund research and co-founder of the Donor-Advised Fund Research Collaborative.
Dr. Brittany Kienker
Dr. Brittany Kienker is Principal and Owner of Kienker Consulting LLC and Knowledge Insights Expert in Residence at the Council of Michigan Foundations (CMF). Dr. Kienker is a sought-after expert and advisor to foundations, philanthropy serving organizations, consultants, and researchers nationally. She regularly develops cutting-edge educational resources and presentations designed for grantmakers, in addition to generating the annual Midwest and Indiana Grantmaker Salary Survey Reports.
Dr. Danielle Vance-McMullen
Dr. Danielle Vance-McMullen is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Nonprofit Management at DePaul University. She uses big data and behavioral experiments to research donor behavior and nonprofit competition in new charitable giving contexts. She is active in DAF research and is a co-founder of the Donor-Advised Fund Research Collaborative.
Jeff Williams, M.A., M.B.A
Jeff Williams is the Director of the Johnson Center Community Data and Research Lab at Grand Valley State University. With expertise in operations, strategy, data analytics, and public policy, Jeff is passionate about connecting data to people to action. He oversees CDRL’s annual research agenda, as well as relationships with partner organizations and communities.
Other DAFRC Researchers
Other scholars actively involved in current DAF working papers include: Megan Farwell, Benjamin Cummings, Ram Cnaan, Erinn Andrews, Genevieve Shaker, and Rebecca Shamash.
The Collaborative also hosts and annual convening of scholars from a variety of academic disciplines whose work intersects with DAF giving, high-net-worth giving, or community foundations. Through these convenings, we have established a community of several dozen additional researchers who are involved with the research collaborate.
Research and Funding Partners
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Johnson Center
for Philanthropy
Giving Tuesday
Data Partners
The work of the DAF Research Collaborative would not be possible without the participation of our DAF data partners. These partners represent DAF sponsoring organizations from across the United States, including community foundations, faith-based funders, and national donor-advised fund sponsors. These sponsoring organizations dedicate time and effort to providing anonymous data in a secure and private manner. Data partners are diverse in their size, geographic scope, and donor characteristics, but are united in their goal to increase the data-driven evidence on DAFs.