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Comment by uranium | Hacker News Reader

Am I reading this right, that even if it's an employer-provided plan, you can't do paycheck withholding? That seems like a big speed-bump.

I have a DAF myself, and really love the way it separates the tax event [donating appreciated stock] and the donations to specific charities. But if it was all just about cash from my checking account, I'm not sure I'd find it worth the bother--I'd just mail checks to the charities directly. Once you can do regular automatic deposits, whether from payroll or from a user's bank account, I think it becomes a much more compelling service. I do hope you get there soon.

I do see that the gift-matching part can make it a valuable service even so. I look forward to your taking on Benevity for the gift-matching part; I've found their service and customer support to be rather poor.

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Co-founder Ashby here!

With your Charityvest Fund today, you can contribute stock, and/or set up a recurring monthly cash contribution from your checking account.

Surprisingly, not having a payroll integration has not been a huge speed bump. Users seem to like the ability to link their own bank account directly, without needing to mess around with their payroll system. There also isn't any tax advantage the way most payroll integrations work (it still comes through as W-2 income), and tax receipting inside of an HRIS system becomes another headache).

Worth noting that you - and everyone else on HN! - can sign up for your own Charityvest Fund for free, sans employer matching, and enjoy the benefits of the DAF for everyone.

I had a chat with someone working on a similar product in this space. The problem being solved here is the matching component of charitable giving (which you mentioned).

Turns out, running a matching program at a company is pretty annoying at a certain size. Much less monthly charity stipends, etc.

Withholding from the paycheck would certainly be a great addition in the future, but is not necessary in the MVP to have people pay for the product.

Absolutely. We have found matching programs are painful to run.

It's also a small misconception that payroll deduction giving is pre-tax. Giving is a post tax benefit either way, so we think it's a better experience for the donor to have control of their monthly automatic contributions rather than having to bug their HR / finance department at their company to increase/decrease it.

Our app can do regular automatic deposits from user's bank accounts today! Many of our users love it. They fulfill their personal commitment to give automatically.

And thanks for the support!

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