Even as overall dollars raised by US nonprofits increased last year, the number of giving donors dropped for the fourth year in a row, marking a worrying trend in grassroots fundraising, according to the latest data from the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ (AFP) Foundation for Philanthropy and GivingTuesday’s Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP).
Based on the FEP’s Quarterly Fundraising Report for the fourth quarter of 2024, which aggregated information from over 12,000 nonprofits and 6.7 million donors, the nonprofit sector saw a 3.5 percent increase in fundraising dollars but a 4.5 percent decline in the number of donors, when compared to 2023.
The increase in dollars disrupted two consecutive years of diminishing funding seen in 2023 and 2022, but from fewer donors.
Donor Retention
Donor retention rates decreased by 2.6 percent in 2024, prompting the FEP to urge nonprofits to bolster fundraising initiatives at the grassroots level: “The continued decline in small donor participation, despite an increase in overall dollars, highlights the pressing need for renewed strategic focus,” Woodrow Rosenbaum, chief data officer at GivingTuesday, noted in a press release. “Our Q4 FEP data emphasizes the growing reliance on fewer, larger gifts, a trend that underscores the urgency of revitalizing small donor engagement to sustain long-term sector health.”
The drop-off in donors was seen across the spectrum of previous engagement levels, from first-time donors to those who had contributed several times to an organization in past years.
The number of new donors fell 7 percent from 2023, and those donors gifted 2.5 percent less in fundraising dollars in 2024 than the previous year. New retained donors, who donated for the first time in 2023, saw the greatest drop at an 8 percent decline.
Donations in 2024 were largely driven by repeat retained donors, who contributed both in 2023 and in previous years, gifting 60 percent of the total funding and pointing to nonprofits’ greater success engaging donors who have demonstrated retention over multiple years, as compared to newer donors. Fundraising dollars increased from those giving three or more donations but decreased from donors contributing one or two donations. However, those less frequent donors made up 82.6 percent of the total donor base last year.
“Organizations can mitigate dependencies on larger donors by prioritizing small donor acquisition and tailoring retention strategies to smaller donor segments, in addition to strengthening relationships with major donors,” AFP’s press release read. “With a focus on these areas, nonprofits can position themselves for a successful 2025 giving year.”
Sign up for our free newsletters
Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.
By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.
Dollars Up, Donors Down
The “dollars up, donors down” phenomenon has been apparent across the nonprofit sector in recent years and implies an increasing concentration of donations from large, wealthy donors. As NPQ previously reported, experts have observed that nonprofits may be hyperfocused on reaching these substantial donors and neglecting fostering long-term relationships with new donors of smaller amounts.
“These figures suggest an urgency around addressing the declining retention of small donors, through efforts that, for example, promote more frequent giving with monthly or regular donation programs,” recommended FEP’s report..
The report found that the number of “micro donors,” who contributed $100 or less, decreased by 8.8 percent in 2024 and accounted for three-quarters of the total donor decline. The smallest donors still made up over half of the total donor base but only contributed around 1.6 percent of the total fundraising dollars in the sector.
The only donor groups who increased their financial contributions were major and “supersize” donors, who gave between $5,000 and $50,000 and over $50,000, respectively. While these larger donors bore around 77.7 percent of the total fundraising last year, they only comprised around 3.1 percent of the total number of donors.
For organizations to get a better sense of where they stand in terms of fundraising performance, the FEP encourages nonprofits to use its “Fundraising Fitness Test” to assess and compare their fundraising to sector-wide trends detailed in the quarterly reports.
Post-Election Trends
In the fourth quarter of 2024, specifically, there was a steep drop in the number of contributing donors, amounts raised, and donor retention rate compared to a year prior. The end of the year has historically been a crucial time for nonprofits to attract donors and accumulate fundraising.
These worrisome trends have intersected with the US presidential election. Although the report does not discuss the election’s impact on nonprofits, the view is supported by experts, with some arguing that major elections draw people’s attention away from supporting nonprofits.
