Report

Pulse of the Donor: the paradox year

2025 marked a fundamental shift — more donors, new channels, new commitment levels. The data shows exactly what changed. The question is whether your revenue architecture is built to take advantage.

Executive Summary: smaller gifts masked record monthly giving growth

The paradox

Average gift sizes were down in 2025. On the surface, that looked like a warning. But conversion rates were rising. Mobile was accelerating. And social — the channel most organizations judged by the first gift — was quietly building recurring pipelines at twice the rate of email within 60 days.

The reality

Donors weren’t pulling back. They were moving faster, committing smaller amounts upfront, and converting to monthly giving at rates that reward patience over immediacy. In every market, mobile conversion grew faster than desktop. And social donors, written off as low-value at acquisition, were among the strongest recurring converters in the data.

The opportunity

The donors are there. The signals are consistent. The organizations that grow in 2026 will be the ones whose revenue architecture is built around how donors actually give today — mobile-first, social-driven, and commitment-led.

Key numbers

Decline in average one-time gift size

The number that looked like a warning sign

50%+

Share of donations made on mobile

Majority channel in 3 of 4 markets

Social conversions to recurring vs. email

The pipeline nobody saw coming

3 key insights that define the new donor landscape

Insight 1

Mobile has crossed the 50% threshold

Mobile now accounts for the majority of donations in the US, UK, and Australia. Initial gifts are smaller, but opportunity lies in cultivating lifetime value.

50%+

Of all donations are now mobile

Faster transaction time than desktop

Mobile has crossed the 50% threshold in most markets — but capturing that traffic is only half the equation. The real question is which channels convert those initial one-time donors into recurring supporters. The answer might surprise you.

Insight 2

Social is your best recurring donor pipeline

Email used to be the gold standard for high-intent donors. Not anymore. Social donors are twice as likely to convert to recurring within 60 days than email donors, despite lower initial gifts.

Higher recurring conversion rate vs. email

12%

Immediate recurring enrollment

This data forces a fundamental question: are you built to convert a $25 mobile donor into a $300 annual relationship, or are you still optimizing to maximize that first transaction? The organizations winning right now made that shift years ago. The payment data proves which strategy actually builds lifetime value.”

Paul Kramer, Lead, Stripe for Nonprofits

Insight 3

US recurring donors give less, commit more

Average monthly gift sizes fell in the US, but recurring enrollment grew. Donors are choosing commitment over contribution size.

5.3%

Decline in average monthly gift size

Donors that opt for recurring gifts

Ready to benchmark your performance?

The 2026 Pulse of the Donor report continues here with detailed benchmark information. Dive in and use this data to identify where your metrics diverge from industry patterns, prioritize actions based on behavioral shifts, and build the business case for infrastructure investments that support post-gift value creation.

Get comprehensive data across:

Conversion performance
Gift dynamics
Payment methods
Mobile trends
Cancellations
Seasonal patterns
Feature performance
Trust signals

How we built this year’s Pulse of the Donor

We analyzed millions of transactions across our global nonprofit network, standardizing currencies to USD, and applying statistical controls to ensure the data was accurate and useful.

Data sources

Anonymized, non-PII transaction data from 1,000+ nonprofit organizations across four countries (United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia) that processed donations through Fundraise Up in 2025.

Geographic coverage

Our primary focus was on the United States (largest sample, clearest behavioral patterns), with comparative context from Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Where patterns were US-specific vs. universal, this was explicitly noted.

Organization inclusion criteria

Organizations were active on the platform for a minimum of 12 months (24 months for YoY metrics), had at least 500 successful donations in the analysis period, had at least 6 months with 5+ donations per month, and had statistical outliers removed.

YoY calculation methodology

For each metric, we calculate organization-level YoY change. Median of these changes reported (more robust than comparing aggregate averages). High-value donations (>$10,000) were excluded to prevent outlier distortion.

Success in 2026 means aligning your platform with how donors actually give today — mobile-first, social-driven, and commitment-led.

This report was created in collaboration with