Jan 2026
Nonprofit Trends by MissionWired
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The Narrative: Context & Takeaways
After a big year-end, nonprofits kicked off the new year with a January of rapid response and list growth.
In the first month of the new year, a few major moments in the news held our focus across the country: ICE shootings and protests in Minneapolis, as well as Winter Storm Fern, which impacted a major portion of the United States. While many organizations saw success in rapid-response messaging around both of these issues, some programs chose to pause their fundraising efforts out of respect for the news unfolding in Minnesota.
When we look back at January 2025 for year-over-year comparisons, we’re measuring January 2026 fundraising against a period that saw both the presidential inauguration and immediate executive actions motivating donors to give to the causes that felt most at risk, as well as response efforts to the California wildfires driving powerful emergency response fundraising. These factors align to contextualize a January 2026 that is seeing revenue down 10% and gifts down 5%. However, January 2024 offers a more comparable month in terms of media attention and giving environment, and we’re seeing January 2026 is up 9% over 2024, with average total gifts fairly flat.
January results around acquisition offer an interesting insight for the months ahead: New acquisitions were up 16% YOY for the month. This suggests that nonprofits are leveraging an important strategy going into 2026: By investing proactively in acquisition to bring new prospective donors into audiences, nonprofits can get ahead of shifting revenue trends and set up their programs for long-term, holistic growth.
-10%
Average total revenue decrease YOY
+3%
Average gift increase YOY, at $89
-5%
Average total gifts decrease YOY
+16%
Increase in new acquisitions in January YOY
Navigate Results:
Results
| 2025 | 2026 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Revenue | $291,046.16 | $261,230.68 | - 10.24% |
| Average Total Gifts | 4,397 | 4,152 | - 5.57% |
| Open Rate | 33.25% | 35.17% | + 5.75% |
| Click Rate | 2.11% | 1.41% | - 33.55% |
| New Donors | 41.74% | 40.34% | - 3.35% |
| Opt-Out Rate | 0.50% | 0.50% | - 1.02% |
| Average Revenue | $291,046.16 | $261,230.68 | - 10.24% |
| Average Total Gifts | 4,397 | 4,152 | - 5.57% |
| Open Rate | 33.25% | 35.17% | + 5.75% |
| Click Rate | 2.11% | 1.41% | - 33.55% |
| New Donors | 41.74% | 40.34% | - 3.35% |
| Opt-Out Rate | 0.47% | 0.50% | + 6.70% |
| Average Revenue | $43,781.68 | $78,713.07 | + 79.79% |
| Average Revenue | $280,110.58 | $276,763.15 | - 1.20% |
| Average Revenue | $549,246.21 | $428,215.81 | - 22.04% |
| Average Total Gifts | 557 | 875 | + 57.12% |
| Average Total Gifts | 3,609 | 4,072 | + 12.83% |
| Average Total Gifts | 9,026 | 7,510 | - 20.19% |
| Open Rate | 33.55% | 29.84% | - 11.07% |
| Open Rate | 30.28% | 35.86% | + 18.44% |
| Open Rate | 35.93% | 39.81% | + 10.78% |
| Click Rate | 2.45% | 1.91% | - 22.06% |
| Click Rate | 1.69% | 1.31% | - 22.43% |
| Click Rate | 2.21% | 1.00% | - 54.78% |
| New Donors | 39.93% | 45.69% | + 14.43% |
| New Donors | 42.85% | 36.23% | - 15.46% |
| New Donors | 42.44% | 39.11% | - 7.83% |
| Opt-Out Rate | 0.58% | 0.38% | - 33.78% |
| Opt-Out Rate | 0.46% | 0.64% | + 39.35% |
| Opt-Out Rate | 0.36% | 0.47% | + 30.13% |
| Average Revenue | $43,781.68 | $78,713.07 | + 79.79% |
| Average Revenue | $280,110.58 | $276,763.15 | - 1.20% |
| Average Revenue | $549,246.21 | $428,215.81 | - 22.04% |
| Average Total Gifts | 557 | 875 | + 57.12% |
| Average Total Gifts | 3,609 | 4,072 | + 12.83% |
| Average Total Gifts | 9,026 | 7,510 | - 16.80% |
| Open Rate | 33.55% | 29.84% | - 11.07% |
| Open Rate | 30.28% | 35.86% | + 18.44% |
| Open Rate | 35.93% | 39.81% | + 10.78% |
| Click Rate | 2.45% | 1.91% | - 22.06% |
| Click Rate | 1.69% | 1.31% | - 22.43% |
| Click Rate | 2.21% | 1.00% | - 54.78% |
| New Donors | 39.93% | 45.69% | + 14.43% |
| New Donors | 42.85% | 36.23% | - 15.46% |
| New Donors | 42.44% | 39.11% | - 7.83% |
| Opt-Out Rate | 0.58% | 0.38% | - 33.78% |
| Opt-Out Rate | 0.46% | 0.64% | + 39.35% |
| Opt-Out Rate | 0.36% | 0.47% | + 30.13% |
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.