(image from publications.fepreports.org)
New data from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) show that dollars are up significantly. While the dollar amount of donations was up 6.6% during the second quarter of 2026 compared to 2025 those dollars continue to be from fewer donors.
So far this year, the number of donors is down 1.6% year-over-year, while giving growth has come largely from major and supersize donors, with major donors posting the strongest gain of any segment. The pattern matches the trends seen in 2025, though the first quarter of 2026 data had suggested slight growth among small and midsize donors. Micro donors ($1-$100) remain the largest segment at 51.6% of all donors, but their numbers fell 4.2% year-over-year.
The FEP is a project of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Foundation for Philanthropy and GivingTuesday. It is a collaboration among fundraising data providers, researchers, analysts, associations, and including BetterUnite, Bloomerang, Bonterra, Donorbox, DonorDock, DonorPerfect, FundraiseUp, Givebutter, Givesmart, GoFundMe Pro, and Neon One.
The FEP releases quarterly findings on those giving trends, released both via downloadable reports at afpglobal.org/fep and in a free online dashboard.
The report’s key takeaways:
— Dollars are up and donors are down, again. Dollars rose an estimated 6.6% year-to-date through Q2, while donors fell 1.6% and retention slipped 0.4 percentage points to 26.4%. Growth is a little broader than in recent quarters: donor counts grew or stayed flat in every size segment except Micro. But it is still concentrated at the top. Major and Supersize donors give 76.4% of all dollars while making up just 2.9% of donors.
— Micro donors are the only segment losing ground. Micro donors ($1-$100) are still 51.6% of all donors. They were the only size segment to decline in both donors (-4.2%) and dollars (-4.4%). Because Micro donors are the entry point for future mid-level and Major donors, this trend could pose problems for revenue over the longer term.
— Fewer new donors are emerging, and fewer of them are being retained. New, New Retained, and Recaptured donors all declined, while Repeat Retained donors grew 3.1%. New Retained donors fell 9.5%, the steepest drop of any lifecycle stage. Only 11.3% of donors acquired in 2025 had given again by the end of Q2.
— Frequent givers are a bright spot. One- and two-gift donors declined, while donors making 3–6 gifts grew 3.2%. Donors who gave seven or more times last year were retained at 90%, compared with 14.4% of one-time donors. The dollars coming from the most frequent donors, however, grew the least of any frequency segment (+2.5%).
“Seeing a rise in total dollar amounts is always encouraging after several difficult years,” Woodrow Rosenbaum, chief data officer of GivingTuesday, said via a statement. “The continuing decline in the number of donors indicates that nonprofits are increasingly reliant on larger donors. This comes at the expense of a much broader donor base, which is key to sustainability.” There are also a lot of dollars coming in from single gifts, and to large organizations. The challenge for nonprofits of all sizes will be a continued focus on recruiting and maintaining recurring donors.”
“The continued growth in giving is encouraging, but these findings remind us that generosity is strongest when it is built on a broad foundation of trust,” Ann Hale, CFRE, executive director, AFP Foundation for Philanthropy – US, said via a statement. “Fundraisers have an opportunity to build on what’s working today while also investing in the relationships, stewardship, and transparency that inspire more people to give and stay connected to the causes they care about.”
This quarter’s release is the second since FEP’s first major methodology update in five years: refinements to how the report builds its panel of organizations, adjusts for late-arriving data, weights the data, and breaks down results by organization size, all aimed at making the sector’s most important fundraising data more accurate, transparent, and consistent. See here for a full breakdown of what’s changed and why.
The full report is available here.
