Fundraising Effectiveness Project Reports Easing Donor Losses in Q1 2026 — But New Data Shows Growth Isn't Sticking

New York, NY, July 29, 2026 --(PR.com)-- New data from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) shows that there was an estimated 4.3% increase in dollars raised in Q1 2026 compared to the same period in 2025, still healthy but decelerating from 5.4% growth a year earlier. At the same time, donor counts fell an estimated 0.8% from the previous year, a sharp improvement from the 2.3% decline the previous year.

The improvement is broader-based than it has been in some time: Donor counts and dollars both grew across Small, Midsize, Major, and Supersize donors this quarter, with only Micro donors ($1–$100) still in decline. However, retention tells a more cautionary story. Donor retention actually fell within the Small, Midsize, Major, and Supersize segments this quarter, while Micro was the only segment where retention improved.

The Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) is a collaborative 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 consultants that empowers the sector to track and evaluate giving trends. The project offers one of the only aggregate views of the current year’s fundraising data, providing the most recent trends to guide nonprofit fundraising and donor engagement. The FEP releases quarterly findings on those giving trends, released both via downloadable reports at afpglobal.org/fep and in a free online dashboard.

As nonprofits approach this year’s giving season, these data points reveal both critical challenges and strategic opportunities. Organizations can mitigate dependencies on larger donors by prioritizing broad-based donor acquisition, and investing in first-year donor conversion strategies. By focusing on these areas, nonprofits can position themselves for successful fundraising in the 2026 giving season.

The full Q1 2026 report is available here.

FEP Q1 2026 Report Key Takeaways

- Growth remains strong, but some of it was likely borrowed from an active Q4. Total giving grew +4.3% YoY, decelerating from +5.4% in 2025. Some of the exceptional late-2025 growth may reflect donors accelerating gifts ahead of anticipated tax law changes — meaning part of that momentum was pulled forward rather than newly generated, and the second half of 2026 could prove tougher as a result.

- Donor count fell an estimated 0.8% YoY, a marked improvement from the 2.3% decline a year earlier — a plateau, not yet a turnaround. This points to stabilization rather than confirmed recovery, and may partly reflect growing sector investment in mid-level donor stewardship among the segments driving the improvement. Notably, the stabilization was led by growth among existing donors, while new donor counts continued to decline.

- Retention is steady, but new-donor conversion is still the sector's pain point. Retention held flat at 18.0% (-0.0 p.p.), continuing a gentle drift down from 2024's high of 18.2%. The more urgent priority is converting new donors into repeat givers — including locking in monthly-sustainer commitments at the point of acquisition — since aggregate retention gains won't offset a persistently weak first-to-second-gift conversion rate.

FEP Rolls Out Its Most Significant Methodology Update Since 2021

This quarter's release also marks the debut of 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. These are refinements, not reversals: The trends FEP has reported under the prior methodology have proven directionally reliable, and this update is meant to put the report on a firmer footing. See here for a full breakdown of what's changing and why.

"The easing in donor losses and broader-based growth this quarter are genuinely encouraging signs after several difficult years, but they shouldn't be mistaken for a full recovery," observed Woodrow Rosenbaum, Chief Data Officer of GivingTuesday. "We're also introducing the most significant update to FEP's methodology in five years. We know a change like this means it may take a moment to get used to comparing quarter over quarter, but this is us listening to the sector and investing in the accuracy and coverage our data needs to serve it well. A firmer methodological foundation now is what lets us build the sharper, more useful tools the sector deserves in the years ahead, in line with our goal to equip organizations to build a more resilient fundraising future."

"Over the past year, the Fundraising Effectiveness Project data has consistently pointed to the need for nonprofits to expand their donor base and strengthen engagement beyond their largest supporters," said Ann Hale, CFRE, executive vice president of the AFP Foundations for Philanthropy. "This quarter's findings suggest encouraging signs in retention and stewardship, even as new donor acquisition remains a challenge. The opportunity now is to build on that momentum during the year-end giving season by focusing not only on acquiring donors, but on strengthening donor stewardship and creating clear pathways for deeper, long-term engagement."

"Charities are adapting quickly to a changing fundraising environment." said Nicolas Duquette, associate professor at the USC Price School of Public Policy. "Donors are harder to reach than they once were, and may not be aware of changes to tax benefits for giving that started in 2026. The FEP findings suggest that charities are successfully retaining and re-engaging their existing donors even as new acquisition lags."

FEP reports continue to be made possible by the generous support of existing collaborating data providers, including BetterUnite, Bloomerang, Bonterra, Donorbox, DonorDock, DonorPerfect, FundraiseUp, Givebutter, Givesmart, GoFundMe Pro, and Neon One. All giving platforms are welcome to join these efforts and increase data coverage, enhancing the accuracy and accessibility of efforts to provide measured analysis to the social sector.