What Nonprofit Leaders Need to Hear Right Now(And What to Do About It)
If you feel like the signals are mixed, you’re not imagining it.
In 2024, U.S. charitable giving reached approximately $592.5 billion and for the first time in three years, grew faster than inflation, according to the Giving USA 2025 report. Overall donor retention in recent years has generally hovered in the low 40% range, as shown in national benchmarks and visual summaries such as Bloomerang’s “state of donor retention” analysis.
More money is flowing from fewer, often wealthier donors, while participation and loyalty among small donors continue to decline.
So if your board is asking, “Why does it feel harder when the headlines say giving is up?” this is why.
And here’s what you need to hear.
1. You Can’t Message and Storytell Your Way Out of a Fragile Revenue Model
There is no subject line, AI tool, or “irresistible story” that fixes a revenue base that’s overly dependent on a small handful of funders.
Recent data makes the risk clear:
Dollars are up, donors are down.
A growing share of revenue is coming from high-dollar and mega-gifts, which is great until one of them leaves and you find yourself scrambling.
If your budget hinges on a few foundations, one government contract, or a small circle of major donors, you’re exposed to risk, no matter how good your communications are.
Action: Do a 30-Minute Revenue Risk Scan
Sit down with last year’s revenue and answer:
Who are our top 10 funders (all types)?
What % of total revenue does each represent?
Any single source over 20–25%: mark as a risk.
Which funding streams are time-limited or likely to shrink in the next 2–3 years?
That’s your vulnerability map.
Action: Choose 1–2 Strategic Revenue Plays
You don’t need ten new ideas. You need one or two that you can execute well:
Recurring giving / monthly donors (even at modest levels)
Corporate sponsorships tied to specific programs or events
Earned or fee-for-service income that is clearly mission-aligned
Partnered campaigns (year-round peer-to-peer, co-branded initiatives)
Tie each new play to a 3-year revenue target, not a one-off “project.” Messaging and storytelling support this approach, but can’t replace it. Once you’ve decided what you’re going to do - you’ve done the research, determined the best approach, and have the resources to execute - go all in and stay focused. You’re not looking for overnight successes here; the goal is to build a stable foundation and diversify in a way that makes sense for your organization.
2. Retention Beats Acquisition—The Data Proves It
Fundraising leaders have talked about the importance of donor retention for years. The numbers now make it non-optional:
Donor retention has declined for the fourth consecutive year, falling another 4.6% year over year through Q3 2024, according to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) Q3 2024 report.
New donor retention is even weaker at approximately 13.8% year-to-date through Q3 2024, down 9% from last year and consistently stuck in the low teens, according to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) Q3 2024 report.
Digital donors acquired online tend to give higher initial amounts ($59 on average versus lower offline baselines) and show stronger first-year value (48% more valuable per NextAfter data), though lifetime retention requires multi-channel nurturing.
So acquisition still matters, but hanging onto the people you already have, and upgrading those relationships, is where the fastest ROI sits.
Action: Build One Simple Donor Journey (Not Ten)
If you only implement one thing this quarter, make it this:
A) New Donor Welcome Sequence (First 30 Days)
Automate 3–4 touches:
24-48 hours:
Thank the donor for their gift.
Phone call, handwritten note, a heartfelt email.
Day 7–10:
Short story + one outcome metric.
Example: “Because of donors like you, 78% of participants stayed housed for 12+ months.”
Day 21–30:
“What to expect from us” email. Note donor communication preferences - phone calls/texts/emails/handwritten notes. Figure out their communication preference and use it.
Optional: 2–3 question survey: why they gave, what they care about most.
B) 90-Day Check-In
“Here’s what’s happened in the last three months, and where we’re headed next.”
One before/after stat, one quote, one light invitation (event, call, or update - not another ask).
Action: Segment Just Enough
At minimum, distinguish between:
New donors (first gift in last 12 months)
Repeat donors (2+ gifts)
Monthly donors
Lapsed donors (no gift in 12–24 months)
Most email tools and CRMs can handle this segmentation today; you probably don’t need new tech for it.
The question is not “Can we afford to do this?” but “Can we afford another year of 40-ish percent retention while acquisition costs rise?”
3. Shorter, Sharper, Data-Backed Stories Win Attention
Funders and donors are dealing with their own noise: economic uncertainty, information overload, and even more competing asks.
The trend across major reports is clear:
Donor participation is concentrated in certain demographics and declining elsewhere, which means you’re increasingly competing for a limited slice of attention.
What cuts through? Not longer reports—clear problem → specific solution → evidence it works → human voice.
Action: Commit to 3–5 Core Impact Indicators
Stop trying to measure everything. Decide what really proves your model works and focus on those metrics.
Ask your team:
“If a smart, skeptical funder asked us, ‘How do you know this is working?’ what 3–5 numbers would we put on one slide?”
Examples:
% of participants who complete your program
% who hit a key outcome (job placement, graduation, housing stability)
Change in a specific indicator (e.g., debt reduced, skills gained, symptoms reduced)
Retention rate in your own programs
Then:
Collect these consistently, not just before a big grant.
Put them in your appeals, reports, one-pagers, and decks.
Action: Rewrite One Story Using This Template
Take an existing “success story” and rebuild it as:
Problem (specific):
“In our county, only 58% of low-income students graduate on time.”
Intervention (plain language):
“We provide weekly tutoring and family support for juniors and seniors at three high schools.”
Evidence (1–3 indicators):
“Last year, 82% of our students graduated on time, up from 55% before they joined the program.”
Human voice (short):
One sentence from a student, parent, or teacher.
You don’t need a data warehouse to do this. You need discipline and a shared agreement on what evidence actually matters.
4. Use Tech and AI to Reduce Burnout, Not Increase It
Yes, AI and new tools are everywhere:
A recent survey by Nonprofit Pro shows 89% are using AI in some way, though barriers like expertise shortages slow full adoption.
Sector reports also highlight rising burnout and capacity strain—leaders trying to do more with less.
If AI and automation don’t reduce the load on your team, they’re not helping.
Action: Automate the Boring, Not the Relationship
Good candidates:
Routine acknowledgments and receipts
Basic segmentation and tagging
Pulling simple reports
Drafting first versions of emails, proposals, and social copy (then editing for nuance)
Bad candidates:
Mass-produced “personal” messages that aren’t actually tailored
Anything that would embarrass you if a donor knew exactly how it was generated
Use tools to free humans for the work only humans can do: real conversations, deeper listening, pattern-spotting, and strategic decisions.
The Throughline: Strategy First, Then Messaging
The current landscape is not all doom:
Total giving is up again after a rough stretch.
Digital donors can be valuable if you engage them well.
AI and better tools can genuinely improve efficiency when used wisely.
But none of that changes three hard truths:
You can’t message your way out of a fragile revenue model.
Retention is a higher-ROI problem to solve than acquisition right now.
Short, data-backed stories are critical to trust-building.
If you focus the next 12 months on:
Clarifying and diversifying your revenue model
Building at least one real retention journey
Committing to 3–5 core indicators and using them everywhere
…your communications will have something solid to sit on. And that’s when the storytelling, branding, and AI actually start to pay off.
Sources:
https://philanthropy.indianapolis.iu.edu/news-events/news/_news/2025/giving-usa-2025.html
https://www.nextafter.com/blog/donor-retention/
https://nonprofitfinancials.org/resources/financial-risk-assessment-a-3-level-model-for-nonprofits-in-2025/
https://blog.blackbaud.com/funding-models-tips-for-nonprofit-finance-professionals/
https://www.nptechforgood.com/101-best-practices/online-fundraising-statistics-for-nonprofits/
https://www.giveffect.com/nonprofit-resource-center/new-donor-welcome-email-series-tips-with-examples/
https://www.businessinitiative.org/statistics/non-profit/philanthropic-landscape-2025/