Aug 2025
Nonprofit Trends by MissionWired
Stay wired with us for insights on building a better digital world.
The Narrative: Context & Takeaways
At the end of a slow and challenging summer, bold moves drive growth, and new donor acquisition takes a turn.
The August news cycle brought another wave of international conflict and domestic uncertainty to the nonprofit fundraising landscape. From the National Guard troops in D.C. and tragic gun violence in Minnesota to the worsening famine in Gaza, nonprofits responded to a wide range of crises depending on their mission.
While the late-summer results reflect a general continued softness, we’re seeing bright spots in a few key turning points and exceptions in the data. Bold organizations that have invested systematically in acquisition and growth ahead of the year-end rush are showing evidence of outperforming the averages. Nonprofits responding to critical emergencies in the news saw a surge in their rapid-response giving. And broadly across nonprofit verticals, we’re starting to see month-over-month growth in new donors, suggesting that we’re hitting that crucial turning point coming out of the summer.
We’re still seeing revenue in the summer months continue to trend slightly down YOY, but a few strong months in Q1 are helping overall revenue hold at 9.5% higher over the previous calendar year. Results also vary based on organization size – while average gift is down YOY generally, large organizations are seeing average gift up through July and August. And while average new donors are slightly down over 2024, a 20% increase over July suggests that nonprofits are putting an increased focus on acquisition in this window to prepare for whatever this year-end has in store.
The key to driving growth in this moment: Take advantage of opportunities to stay relevant and timely when your work relates to conflicts or events, proactively expressing the urgent need your program is facing to respond to crises or overcome funding cuts, and continue to lean into opportunities to be bold with acquisition, to prepare for end-of-year and build a foundation for growth for the long term.
+9.5%
Average revenue increase CYTD
-1%
Average total gifts decrease CYTD
+20%
Average increase in new donors MOM
$63
Average gift in August
Navigate Results:
Results
| 2024 | 2025 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Revenue | $1,337,886.67 | $1,464,371.51 | + 9.45% |
| Average Total Gifts | 34,148 | 33,887 | - 0.76% |
| Open Rate | 25.83% | 32.66% | + 26.47% |
| Click Rate | 1.46% | 1.69% | + 15.80% |
| New Donors | 42.53% | 41.34% | - 2.79% |
| Opt-Out Rate | 0.32% | 0.32% | + 1.00% |
| Average Revenue | $228,322.22 | $189,512.96 | - 17.00% |
| Average Total Gifts | 6,324 | 3,968 | - 37.26% |
| Open Rate | 27.34% | 33.31% | + 21.83% |
| Click Rate | 1.40% | 1.89% | + 35.15% |
| New Donors | 42.36% | 40.70% | - 3.92% |
| Opt-Out Rate | 0.28% | 0.46% | + 64.58% |
| Average Revenue | $238,253.88 | $225,283.47 | - 5.44% |
| Average Revenue | $777,016.45 | $930,063.50 | + 19.70% |
| Average Revenue | $2,998,389.68 | $3,237,767.54 | + 7.98% |
| Average Total Gifts | 3,230 | 3,401 | + 5.27% |
| Average Total Gifts | 13,781 | 14,744 | + 6.99% |
| Average Total Gifts | 85,431 | 83,517 | - 2.29% |
| Open Rate | 23.12% | 32.38% | + 40.02% |
| Open Rate | 26.05% | 30.02% | + 15.25% |
| Open Rate | 28.31% | 35.59% | + 25.73% |
| Click Rate | 1.55% | 2.06% | + 33.50% |
| Click Rate | 1.47% | 1.62% | + 10.41% |
| Click Rate | 1.36% | 1.38% | + 1.50% |
| New Donors | 42.89% | 40.68% | - 5.16% |
| New Donors | 43.69% | 43.01% | - 1.56% |
| New Donors | 41.01% | 40.34% | - 1.63% |
| Opt-Out Rate | 0.34% | 0.33% | - 1.63% |
| Opt-Out Rate | 0.33% | 0.34% | + 4.57% |
| Opt-Out Rate | 0.30% | 0.29% | - 5.85% |
| Average Revenue | $39,731.02 | $38,580.38 | - 2.90% |
| Average Revenue | $139,633.21 | $151,383.67 | + 8.42% |
| Average Revenue | $505,602.42 | $378,574.82 | - 25.12% |
| Average Total Gifts | 540 | 523 | - 3.16% |
| Average Total Gifts | 2,507 | 2,925 | + 16.69% |
| Average Total Gifts | 15,925 | 8,454 | - 46.91% |
| Open Rate | 24.43% | 31.95% | + 30.77% |
| Open Rate | 28.97% | 31.90% | + 10.09% |
| Open Rate | 28.61% | 36.08% | + 26.08% |
| Click Rate | 1.82% | 2.65% | + 46.22% |
| Click Rate | 1.22% | 2.04% | + 67.19% |
| Click Rate | 1.15% | 0.97% | - 16.07% |
| New Donors | 45.25% | 43.28% | - 4.34% |
| New Donors | 44.22% | 38.46% | - 13.01% |
| New Donors | 37.64% | 40.37% | + 7.26% |
| Opt-Out Rate | 0.39% | 0.40% | + 2.62% |
| Opt-Out Rate | 0.22% | 0.56% | + 152.11% |
| Opt-Out Rate | 0.22% | 0.41% | + 84.89% |
Revenue
Average Revenue Raised
The view below shows the average revenue raised across all digital channels for a nonprofit organization – excluding mid-level ($1,000+) donations and recurring (monthly) donations.
Average Total Gifts
Included below is the average number of total 1x gifts per nonprofit organization across all digital channels – excluding mid-level ($1,000+) and recurring (monthly) donations.
Average Gift
Defined as total revenue/total gifts, this chart shows the average 1x donation made across digital channels – excluding mid-level ($1,000+) and recurring (monthly) donations.
Acquisition
Average New Donors
Across all digital channels, the chart below shows, on average, how many 1x donations a nonprofit organization saw from first-time donors – excluding mid-level ($1,000+) and recurring (monthly) donations.
Average Active List Composition
Looking at all active email files, the chart below shows the average percentage of new acquisitions (new leads) that were added to the email file. This view shows the current year-to-date over previous years.
Email Engagement
Open Rate
Defined as total opens/total sent, this view shows the average email open rates across nonprofit organizations.
Click Rate
The view below shows the average click rate, defined as unique clicks/unique opens across nonprofit organizations.
Opt-Out Rate
The view below shows the average opt-out rate, defined as total opt-outs/total emails sent across nonprofit organizations.
Our Methodology
The results displayed are a view of more than 60 nonprofits across a variety of sectors. We have taken the metrics from these nonprofits and created averages for each of the KPIs so that nonprofits can easily see how their results compare. All fundraising metrics encompass all digital channels – including but not limited to email, SMS, advertising, and web. Each metric is broken down by nonprofit size, defined by the size of the active email file.
- Large: sending to 300,000 + unique emails in a month
- Medium: sending to 100,000-299,999 unique emails in a month
- Small: sending to less than 100,000 unique emails in a month
These metrics have excluded donors and donations more than $1,000 – often defined as mid-level – as well as monthly donors and donations.