12 Revealing Nonprofit Stats From 2025

The nonprofit sector entered 2025 facing familiar pressures: uneven donor participation, staffing strain and growing uncertainty about the year ahead. Amid these and emerging challenges — including federal funding cuts — new research shows where generosity is holding steady, where it is concentrating and where opportunity still exists for organizations willing to adapt.

Taken together, these 12 stats reflect the realities shaping fundraising, donor behavior and nonprofit capacity right now as you and your team strategize and plan for the year ahead.

1. Global Charitable Giving Reached $2.3 Trillion

Philanthropy continues to operate at an enormous scale, reaching $2.3 trillion worldwide in 2024, according to the GivingTuesday report “The State of Generosity in 2024-2025.” Of the total financial gifts, $905 billion is attributed to remittances, while $1.5 trillion comes from individuals.

2. Affluent Household Participation Drops to 81%

High-net-worth households still account for a disproportionate share of charitable dollars. In fact, they are giving 30% more. But fewer are participating at all — a long-term risk for donor pipelines. Affluent household participation fell to 81% in 2024, down from 91% in 2015, according to the “2025 Bank of America Study of Philanthropy: Charitable Giving by Affluent Households.” Those still giving cite having formal giving strategies, making decisions jointly as couples and using giving vehicles, such as donor-advised funds, private foundations and giving circles.

3. Just 19% of First-Time Donors Give Again

In 2024, only 19% of first-time donors returned to give again, according to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project’s “Quarterly Fundraising Report” for 2024. Existing donors, however, were more loyal with a 69% retention rate. The gap highlights how nonprofits are struggling to convert new donors into repeat givers.

4. Despite 64% of Nonprofits Defaulting to One-Time Gifts, Recurring Giving Continues to Grow

Design choices continue to shape online fundraising outcomes. The M+R “Benchmarks” report found that 64% of nonprofits default their donation pages to one-time gifts, even as recurring giving continues to grow. Meanwhile, one-time giving remains flat year over year.

5. GivingTuesday Donors Retained at a 65% Rate — Higher Than Those Giving Earlier in the Year

Not all donor relationships are equally fragile. A special report from Blackbaud Institute and GivingTuesday found GivingTuesday donors were retained at a 65% rate, compared with 52% for donors who gave earlier in the year. With 19.1 million donors contributing $4 billion to GivingTuesday 2025, that’s a lot of stewardship and cultivation that can lead to more gifts in 2026.

6. Millennial Giving Jumps 22%

As participation declines among some older cohorts, millennials are becoming increasingly central to nonprofit fundraising. Millennial giving increased 22% in 2024 to an average of $1,616 per donor, according to “Giving by Generation,” a special report from The Giving USA Foundation. Though baby boomers are still the most generous based on average dollars given annually, researchers suggest millennials may ultimately prove to be just as generous. After adjusting millennial giving for age and inflation, millennial giving falls within 4% of what baby boomers gave at the same life stage in 2004.

7. Corporate Giving Grew 9.1% — the Fastest Growth Among Major Sources

Corporate giving grew 9.1% in 2024 — the fastest growth among major sources of charitable giving, according to “Giving USA 2025: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2024.” Reaching $44.4 billion, corporate giving amassed its highest level on record, but still only accounts for 7.5% of giving. Some nonprofit experts worry the new tax law could hurt future growth, as it puts a 1% floor on charitable contributions that can be claimed.

8. A Creator’s Involvement Makes Gen Zers 61% More Likely to Give

Younger donors are responding to influence differently than previous generations. Tiltify’s “2025 Giving Season Report” found that 61% of Generation Z says a creator’s involvement makes them more likely to donate to charity, reflecting the growing role of trusted voices in shaping giving decisions among younger audiences. Nearly a third of donors gave through creator-led fundraisers, while 44% of creators reported raising more money for nonprofits.

9. More Than Half of Nonprofit Leaders Cite Compensation Issues

Staffing constraints continue to shape what nonprofits can realistically accomplish. NonProfit PRO found in its “2025 Nonprofit Leadership Impact Study” that 55% of nonprofit leaders cite competitive compensation as a major staffing challenge, limiting their ability to recruit and retain — and, in turn, constraining investments in the skills and capacity needed to modernize fundraising operations.

10. Only 24% of Nonprofits Have an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

Artificial intelligence is increasingly embedded in nonprofit operations, but governance has lagged behind adoption. Only 24% of nonprofits have an AI policy in place, according to “The State of AI in Nonprofits 2025: Benchmark Report on Adoption, Impact and Trends” from TechSoup and Tapp Network. This raises questions about risk management, ethics and long-term readiness, especially since many more nonprofits — both large and small — are already using AI tools. Larger organizations are moving faster: Nonprofits with annual budgets above $1 million report nearly double the rate of AI adoption compared with smaller organizations (66% versus 34%).

11. Nearly 69% of Donors Worry Their Data Could Be Hacked When Donating

Any type of risk could lead to accountability issues, as trust remains a critical barrier to donor acquisition. Nearly 69% of donors worry their information could be hacked when giving to a new charity, according to the “Give.org Donor Trust Report.” Similarly, 62% were concerned organizations would share their data with third parties. If they learned of a data breach involving a charity they supported, nearly 80% of those surveyed would stop or hold off on future giving.

12. Only 19% of Nonprofits Raised More Than Half of Their Revenue Digitally

Digital fundraising may dominate strategy conversations, but adoption remains uneven. Only 19% of nonprofits raised more than half of their revenue online, while 11% raised nothing digitally at all, according to new research from NonProfit PRO. Smaller nonprofits were far more likely to report little or no digital fundraising, while larger organizations were more likely to rely heavily on online giving, according to the “2025 Nonprofit Fundraising Study.”

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