As we enter 2025, many of us are reflecting on the past year and thinking about positive changes we want to make. One of the most meaningful but hard-to-keep resolutions people make is to give back more regularly. While many people intend to make charitable giving a priority, life often gets in the way.

If you feel the same way, you are not alone. Prior to joining Daffy, many of our members shared that they weren’t giving to charity as much as they wanted:

“To be honest, I want to do more. I am probably not giving as much or as often as I should. My giving hasn’t caught up with my salary.” - Catalina

“My giving isn’t that intentional…I have recurring donations to a few charities and then the rest are just full of reactive one-off donations.” - Amy

“I want to give more. For some reason, there’s more friction with my giving vs. my spending. I think more about a $100 donation than I do a $100 t-shirt. Why is the bar higher? I don’t know. I could definitely give more.” - Preston

Unfortunately, this mentality leads to a significant gap between what people want to give and the amount that they actually give. We call this the Generosity Gap.

Setting a Goal for Your Giving

At Daffy, we solve this problem by asking people from the beginning to set a goal of how much they want to give to charity this year.

While this may sound simple, research from the Stockholm School of Economics shows that setting a giving goal can increase charitable donations by 32%. At Daffy, we've seen this firsthand—based on thousands of our members, our community collectively exceeded their giving goals by 558%.

By our estimates, this means that if charitable giving continues to grow over the next ten years at the rate it has grown in the past decade and if everyone was able to close that 32% gap, it would mean an additional $1.28 trillion dollars donated to charity over the next 10 years.

So if you're aiming to make more charitable donations this year and want to help close the trillion dollar Generosity Gap, here are four steps you can take to be more generous in 2025.

How to Give Back More Regularly

1. Set a giving goal: how much you want to give to charity 🎯

Like any new habit, starting with a simple and measurable goal always yields better results, so whether you’re a new member setting up your Daffy account or an existing member of Daffy, ask yourself: How much do you want to give charity this year?

Deciding how much to give to charity is a personal decision. There’s no one-size-fits-all formula for setting your annual giving goal. For some of our members, this is a percentage of their income and for others, they simply start by setting a goal of a few hundred dollars.

If you don’t have a goal in mind, our Giving Goal Calculator can help you pick an amount that’s right for you. You can choose a fixed amount or calculate a number based on a percentage of your income.

Many people worry about picking the right number, but the truth is that any number is a great place to start. As one member shares:

“Setting an annual giving goal made it really easy to get me involved in donating more regularly rather than waiting for an organization to send me something in the mail. It just made it simple and it made me more involved in giving, whereas usually I would walk away and say, oh, I don't have that in my budget. But I do, giving is a part of my budget now.” - Kelly McConnell

2. Let Daffy automate your tax-deductible contributions 🔄

Once you set your giving goal, Daffy makes setting money aside for charity as simple as simple as saving money for retirement.

All you have to do is select the frequency (weekly, monthly, or quarterly) and then link your bank account and we take care of the rest. While automating your contributions is likely the easiest way to fund your account, for members who want to make a one-time contribution, Daffy supports contributions from bank accounts, debit cards, credit cards, stock, ETFs, crypto, or transfers from existing donor-advised funds.

Plus when you contribute assets through a donor-advised fund like Daffy, you get an immediate tax deduction, and your funds have the potential to grow tax-free in your chosen investment portfolio. That means even more money for the charities you support over time.

3. Set up automatic donations to your favorite charities 💌

Now that you’ve funded your account, one of the easiest ways to stick to your goal of giving more regularly is to set up recurring donations to your favorite non-profits. Charities particularly value these regular contributions since they provide the consistent, reliable funding needed to plan their programs and operations effectively.

With Daffy, you have the flexibility to schedule donations monthly, quarterly, or yearly—and you can even plan them for specific future dates. Each donation brings you closer to your giving goal while providing steady support to the causes you care about.

Ready to start? Ask yourself: What charity or cause do I want to support more regularly this year?

4. Celebrate your generosity 🎉

Once you make enough generous donations to hit your annual giving goal, we won’t let your generosity go unnoticed. You’ll unlock a special Daffy member badge that is earned for hitting this generous achievement.

While it feels good to get recognition for your giving, the real value in sharing your giving is inspiring others to do the same. It is one of the easiest ways to amplify your impact for the causes and charities you support.

Ready to make charitable giving a regular habit? Whether you're a current member reviewing your 2024 giving at daffy.org/home/giving-goal or new to our community, join us in making 2025 the year to be more generous, more often.