Certificates
Advanced DAF Certificate
Donor-advised funds (DAFs) have become the fastest-growing charitable vehicle, attracting billions of dollars in annual contributions. In addition, wealthy clients increasingly seek guidance on donating complex assets, navigating pre-liquidity event planning, and using DAFs to achieve social-impact goals and build a lasting legacy. Most current DAFtraining covers mechanics and fundamentals, not the advanced planning, advisory judgment, and client-conversation skills these cases require. As a result, advisors are underserved at exactly the moment client demand is becoming more sophisticated.
The Advanced DAF Certificate provides learners an immersive, practitioner-focused learning experience designed for professional advisors who guide, structure, and influence philanthropic giving through DAFs.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
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Analyze and advise on contributions involving non-publicly traded and alternative assets, including closely held business interests, real estate, cryptocurrency, and other illiquid holdings, with attention to valuation, timing, and tax implications.
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Navigate regulatory frameworks, fiduciary duties, and risk controls.
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Design integrated charitable strategies that position DAFs alongside estate planning vehicles, tax optimization techniques, impact investing approaches, and complementary philanthropic structures (e.g., private foundations, charitable trusts).
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Lead values-based philanthropic planning conversations, incorporating multi-generational engagement, governance structures, and legacy-building frameworks tailored to affluent donors.
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Coordinate with DAF sponsors and ecosystem partners to execute complex giving strategies and maximize impact for clients and the causes they support.
FACULTY
Tony Macklin
Tony Macklin, CAP®, IPA, leads the development of new education programs and field-building projects as Daylight’s Director of Advisor Practice. He is a philanthropist, philanthropoid, and philanthropy geek. Tony enjoys working at the intersection of meaningful giving and community results, specifically connecting older, established forms of philanthropy with emerging trends and experiments. Tony helps donors, families, grantmakers, and their advisors and associations answer questions about shared purpose, use of resources for social impact, governance, strategy, and assessment. He is a frequent speaker, trainer, and author.
Dien Yuen
Dien Yuen is the founder and CEO of Daylight. Previously, Dien founded the Center for Philanthropy and Social Impact at The American College of Financial Services, where she served as the Blunt-Nickel Professor in Philanthropy. She also helped develop the curriculum for the Certified Impact Philanthropy Professional program at Singapore’s Wealth Management Institute (WMI), which recognized her with its Distinguished Faculty Award. Dien was named CEO of the Year in the Professional Services Firms category at the 2026 Wealth Management Industry Awards and is a 2026 Forbes 50 Over 50 honoree.
Certificate Modules
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Navigating the Modern Donor Advised Fund Landscape
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Structuring Gifts of Complex Assets
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Smoothly Integrating DAFs with Tax and Estate Planning
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Meeting Advanced Social Impact Goals
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High-Impact Philanthropic Planning
Course Format
Program Type: Certificate program - asynchronous with module quizzes
Program Delivery: Readings, videos, graphics, downloadable resources
Program Complexity Level: Advanced
Daylight is an approved CE sponsor. Continuing education credits are pending for completion of the Advanced DAF Certificate.
IPA, CFP®, CPWA®, CIMA®, RMA®, CAP®, CFRE, CSPGCM