Yesterday, nonprofit leaders from across the country joined Campbell & Company for our annual Giving USA Forum on Philanthropy, where we unpacked the latest Giving USA 2026 data and explored what it means for fundraising strategy in the year ahead.
The headline was easy to spot. Americans gave a record $617.2 billion to charity in 2025. It was the first year charitable giving topped $600 billion (hooray!).
But numbers alone don’t tell us much.
The better question is this: What should nonprofits do with this information?
Throughout the webinar, we encouraged attendees to use Giving USA as a benchmark, not a script. The goal isn’t to follow national trends. It’s to understand how those trends compare to your own organization and where you may need to adapt.
Here are our top three practical next steps you can take right now.
Many organizations are still seeing the same pattern: more dollars coming in, but fewer donors making gifts.
Individual giving grew to $394.2 billion in 2025 (Giving USA 2026), and according to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project, total giving increased by about 5%, while the number of donors declined by roughly 3.6%. The steepest losses continue to come from donors giving between $1 and $100.
Overall donor retention sits at about 43.3%, which means more than half of donors won’t make another gift next year. First-time donor retention is even harder. Roughly 70% to 80% of first-time donors never make a second gift.
The good news is that we also know what works.
Research from GivingTuesday and GoFundMe Pro shows that 40% of first-time donors come through peer-to-peer campaigns, and 77% of peer-to-peer donors are new to the organization. That’s one promising path for bringing new people into the donor pipeline.
Keeping them is the harder task.
Monthly giving and other “sustainer” programs continue to stand out as one of the most effective retention tools available. Monthly donors often retain at around 80%, remain engaged for seven to eight years, and generate significantly more lifetime value (600%-800% more) than one-time donors.
Before launching another acquisition campaign, take a close look at the people who have already said yes.
Ask yourself:
A growing donor base starts with keeping more of the donors you already have.
Many donors now give through tools that weren’t common a generation ago.
Donor-advised funds (DAFs), qualified charitable distributions (QCDs), and planned gifts play a larger role in philanthropy every year. According to the 2025 Bank of America Study of Philanthropy, nearly one in four affluent households uses a charitable giving vehicle. Among households with a net worth between $5 million and $20 million, 48% either have or plan to establish a giving vehicle within the next three years.
Many nonprofits still think of these tools as major-gift strategies.
The reality is much broader than that.
Research referenced during the webinar suggests that as many as two-thirds of DAFs gifts are under $1,000. DAFs are showing up more often in everyday philanthropy, not just in seven-figure gift conversations.
The same trend appears in planned giving.
So, take a look at your website. Is it clear how someone can make a DAF gift? Can a donor find information about giving through an IRA? Does your team feel comfortable discussing planned gifts?
Small changes can remove friction. And when giving feels simple, donors are more likely to take the next step.
One theme came up again and again during the webinar: philanthropy continues to shift toward larger gifts, foundations, bequests, and other structured forms of giving.
Foundation giving reached a record $117.15 billion in 2025. Bequests totaled $62.19 billion and showed some of the strongest growth in the report (Giving USA 2026).
That has implications beyond fundraising totals.
Nonprofits need to think about relationships that span generations.
Many organizations spend years building trust with one donor. That’s important. But the next question is whether children, grandchildren, advisors, and family decision-makers know your organization and understand your mission.
The Great Wealth Transfer, estimated between $84 to $125 trillion (yes, trillion with a T) will create opportunities for nonprofits that invest in those relationships today (Financial Times).
The nonprofits that benefit most won’t be the ones that wait for that transfer to happen. They’ll be the organizations that build relationships across generations today.
Invite family members into stewardship conversations. Identify opportunities for younger donors to engage with your mission. Start talking about planned gifts long before a donor is ready to document one.
The common thread is simple: relationships built over time are still the strongest predictor of philanthropic commitment.
The biggest lesson from Giving USA 2026 isn’t that Americans remain generous, though they do. It’s that donor behavior keeps changing.
Organizations that pay attention to those changes will be in a stronger position five years from now.
So if you’re looking for a place to start, keep it simple:
That’s how national giving trends become useful at the organizational level.
And if you’d like help thinking through donor retention, planned giving, DAF strategy, campaign planning, or long-term fundraising growth, Campbell & Company would be glad to help!
We’re ready to invest in your success. Are you?
