Quarterly Fundraising Report™

Year-to-Date Nonprofit Sector Trends
Q1 2024 (JAN 1, 2024 - MAR 31, 2024)

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Donors: The number of people who have made a donation so far this year
Dollars: The amount of money raised by people making a donation so far this year
Retention: The percentage of people who have been retained from previous years so far this year

Key Insights

Q1 shows a 4.1% increase in dollars raised, while reporting a continued decline of -1.3% and -3.0% in donors and retention metrics, respectively. While still negative, the rate of decline in the number of donors appears to be decelerating from the sharp -10.3% drop reported in 2022, suggesting a potential reversal.
The smallest donors saw a double digit decline in participation, which is nearly twice the decline observed among other donor categories, accounting for around 75% of the overall decrease in donor numbers. This trend, consistent with Q1 2023, suggests that small donors contribute less at the beginning of the year.
The International, Foreign Affairs cause category saw the largest YOY increase (9.6%), which is likely attributed to aid and relief campaigns caused by international conflicts.


DONORS -1.3% (+/- 1.5%) YOY change	DOLLARS +4.1% (+/- 1.5%) YOY change	RETENTION -3.0% (+/- 0.5%) YOY change

In this report, we compare data compiled from previous years to 2024. All metrics are computed up to Q1 (from January of a given year to the end of March of the same year).

Current Dataset

Year-to-Date Nonprofit Sector Trends
Q1 2024 (JAN 1, 2024 - MAR 31, 2024)

Key Limitations

Data in our panel is limited to organizations with >=3 years of data, with $5K - $25M received in the prior year, via the Growth in Giving database.
Data is weighted across size of organization as determined by amount fundraised, including organizations raising between $5K - $25M.
Data is also weighted by NTEE (National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities) codes utilized by the IRS to determine organization type and/or cause.
A significant amount of data arrives late, so we estimate the difference for top-line metrics by reviewing historical patterns of delayed data. Throughout this report, ranges for each metric express uncertainty in the estimates.


DONORS 3.6M in 2024	DOLLARS $2.1B in 2024	ORGANIZATIONS 12,359 in 2024

Revenue and retention metrics report on year-to-date (YTD) performance compared against the prior year total, based on a panel* of organizations selected from the Growth in Giving Database of 400 million transactions from more than 38,000 organizations since 2005.

Donors: Time Series

Year-to-Date Nonprofit Sector Trends
Q1 2024 (JAN 1, 2024 - MAR 31, 2024)

Key Definitions ✖ Overall rate of growth in donors: net of gains minus losses in number of donors from last year to this year divided by total number of donors up to this time last year.
Key Insights

Despite the year-over-year (YOY) increase in dollars donated, the number of donors decreased by 1.3% (±1.5%) compared to 2023 Q1 after adjusting for late data. The rate of decline in the number of donors is plateauing from the -10.3% drop we saw in 2023, indicating a potential future increase in number of donors.

		On a month-by-month basis, the current year's change in donors closely resemble the trend observed in 2023.

NOTE: The panel for each year differs based on our panel rules (stable organizations over the past 3 years w/ $5K - $25M received in the prior year, via the Growth in Giving database). This ensures consistent historical data & avoids biasing past results by filtering on future data.

Donors by Donor Size

Year-to-Date Nonprofit Sector Trends
Q1 2024 (JAN 1, 2024 - MAR 31, 2024)

Key Definitions

✖

Donor size: the grouping of donors by giving levels (dollar ranges) using donors’ year-to-date giving amounts

Key Insights

Micro donors ($1-100), who constitute 59.3% of all donors, show the biggest relative drop
(-10.4%) in donor numbers, with the other size categories seeing more modest decreases ranging
from -5.2% to -0.8%
The drop in micro donors accounts for nearly three-quarters of the topline decrease in donors.
This continues a similar year-over-year decline seen in 2023 Q1, where small donors decreased
by -14% in number, the largest drop among all donor size categories.


MICRO ($1 - $100) -10.4% YOY Change	SMALL ($101 - $500) -5.2% YOY Change	MIDSIZE ($501 - $5K) -4.7% YOY Change	MAJOR ($5K - $50K) -4.8% YOY Change	SUPERSIZE ($50K+) -0.8% YOY Change
59.3% % of total donors	28.1% % of total donors	10.7% % of total donors	1.7% % of total donors	0.2% % of total donors

All year-over-year (YOY) changes are computed on year-to-date (YTD) totals. Donor size segments were chosen to span both dollars and donors, with each segment representing 1-50% of the total. Estimates for late data only apply to top-line donors, dollars, and retention. Thus, these more granular breakdowns underestimate year-over-year growth.

Donors by Life Cycle

Year-to-Date Nonprofit Sector Trends
Q1 2024 (JAN 1, 2024 - MAR 31, 2024)

Key Definitions

✖

Donor Life Cycle: the grouping of donors based on when they were last seen in the dataset

Key Insights

The significant decline in new and new retained donors (-10.3% and -12.1% YOY, respectively) suggests continued challenges in acquiring and maintaining growth in first-time contributors.
Repeat retained donors, constituting 50.4% of all donors, also experienced a -6.5% decline in donor numbers, contributing to nearly 40% of the topline decrease in total donors. This indicates a need to enhance ongoing engagement with regular supporters.


NEW DONORS -10.3% YOY Change	NEW RETAINED DONORS -12.1% YOY Change	REPEAT RETAINED DONORS -6.5% YOY Change	RECAPTURED DONORS -7.7% YOY Change
27.5% % of total donors	9.8% % of total donors	50.4% % of total donors	12.3% % of total donors

NEW DONORS - never gave to this organization before.
NEW RETAINED DONORS - gave last year to the organization, but never before.
REPEAT RETAINED DONORS - gave last year to the organization, but not for the first time.
RECAPTURED DONORS - did not give last year to the organization, but had given in the past.

Donor by Donation Count

Year-to-Date Nonprofit Sector Trends
Q1 2024 (JAN 1, 2024 - MAR 31, 2024)

Key Definitions

✖

Donor Donation Counts: the grouping of donors based on how many times they've made a donation

Key Insights

Donors who contributed once this year constitute 65.8% of total donors and exhibit the largest YOY decline of -8.9%, contributing to nearly 75% of the topline decrease in donors.
The number of donors making 3-6 donations (comprising 22.5% of total donors) decreased by -7.3% YOY, suggesting a notable drop in mid-frequency donor retention.


1 DONATION -8.9% YOY Change	2 DONATIONS -6.6% YOY Change	3-6 DONATIONS -7.3% YOY Change	7+ DONATIONS -4.5% YOY Change
65.8% % of total donors	10.6% % of total donors	22.5% % of total donors	1.0% % of total donors

Donation count segments were selected to best illustrate the distribution of total donors and dollars across the giving spectrum. A donor's donation count includes all contributions made year-to-date.

Dollars: Time Series

Year-to-Date Nonprofit Sector Trends
Q1 2024 (JAN 1, 2024 - MAR 31, 2024)

Key Definitions ✖ Overall rate of growth in dollars: net of gains minus losses in money from fundraising from last year to this year divided by total dollars raised up to this time last year
Key Insights

While initial results showed a -3.9% decrease in fundraising dollars, after adjusting for delays in data reporting we estimate fundraising dollars to have increase 4.1% compared to last year. This estimated increase in fundraising dollars indicates a potential reversal of the downward trend that began in 2020.

		Breaking from the previous two years, fundraising dollars saw a slow start at the beginning of the year, while picking up momentum in February and March.

Dollars by Donor Size

Year-to-Date Nonprofit Sector Trends
Q1 2024 (JAN 1, 2024 - MAR 31, 2024)

Key Definitions

✖

Dollars by donor size: the segmentation of dollars based on the size of an individuals total contributions, year-to-date

Key Insights

Despite representing only 0.2% of all donors and experiencing a modest year-over-year
decline of -2.9%, supersize donors were the largest contributors to the pre-adjusted topline
decrease in dollars, accounting for nearly half of the total dollars raised.
Mirroring a trend we have seen since 2022, the smallest donors have consistently seen
double-digit decreases in total dollars raised in Q1, indicating less engagement from smaller
donors during the beginning of the year.


MICRO ($1 - $100) -10.6% YOY Change	SMALL ($101 - $500) -6.0% YOY Change	MIDSIZE ($501 - $5K) -4.5% YOY Change	MAJOR ($5K - $50K) -3.7% YOY Change	SUPERSIZE ($50K+) -2.9% YOY Change
2.8% % of total dollars	6.6% % of total dollars	16.7% % of total dollars	25.3% % of total dollars	48.6% % of total dollars

Donor size is computed on a donor’s total year-to-date dollars given.

Dollars by Life Cycle

Year-to-Date Nonprofit Sector Trends
Q1 2024 (JAN 1, 2024 - MAR 31, 2024)

Key Definitions

✖

Dollars by donor size: the segmentation of dollars based on when the associated donor was last seen in the dataset, year-to-date

Key Insights

Q1 saw a decrease in dollars across all donor groups, with the largest drop observed in new-retained and repeat-retained donors (-4.5% and -5.1%, respectively).
Despite the negative trend, dollar amounts have stabilized compared to 2023, with dollars donated by new donors decreasing by only 1.9% in Q1 2024 compared to 34.4% in the same quarter last year.
Because repeat-retained donors account for 59.4% of total dollars raised, the 5.1% decrease in funds raised by this group accounts for 78.8% of the total decrease in dollars given in Q1.
The modest -1.9% YOY decline in dollars from new donors, despite a decrease in the number of donors, suggests that the organization is attracting higher-dollar contributions from new donors.


NEW DONORS -1.9% YOY Change	NEW RETAINED DONORS -4.5% YOY Change	REPEAT RETAINED DONORS -5.1% YOY Change	RECAPTURED DONORS -0.7% YOY Change
17.4% % of total dollars	8.5% % of total dollars	59.4% % of total dollars	14.7% % of total dollars

NEW DONORS - never gave to this organization before.
NEW RETAINED DONORS - gave last year to the organization, but never before.
REPEAT RETAINED DONORS - gave last year to the organization, but not for the first time.
RECAPTURED DONORS - did not give last year to the organization, but had given in the past.

Dollars by Donation Count

Year-to-Date Nonprofit Sector Trends
Q1 2024 (JAN 1, 2024 - MAR 31, 2024)

Key Definitions

✖

Dollars by donation count: the grouping of dollars based on how many times the associated donor made a donation

Key Insights

Even though the one-time donors accounted for 59.3% of donors, they only contributed 41.8% of the total dollars donated.
Donors who give 7 or more times represent 6.3% of total dollars but positively influence the topline change in dollars by 0.2%, demonstrating the increasing importance of frequent donors in overall growth.


1 DONATION -2.4% YOY Change	2 DONATIONS -5.7% YOY Change	3-6 DONATIONS -9.3% YOY Change	7+ DONATIONS 3.7% YOY Change
61.2% % of total dollars	15.1% % of total dollars	17.5% % of total dollars	6.3% % of total dollars

Donation count segments were selected to best illustrate the distribution of total donors and dollars across the giving spectrum. A donor's donation count includes all contributions made year-to-date.

Retention Rate: Time Series

Year-to-Date Nonprofit Sector Trends
Q1 2024 (JAN 1, 2024 - MAR 31, 2024)

Key Insights

Retention decreased by 4.0% in Q4, but after adjusting for late data, we estimate the fall to be 3.0% (± 0.5%) in Q1 compared to 2023. Despite the 2.3% increase seen in Q1 2023, retention reverts to a downward trend in Q1 2024.

		Unlike the two years prior (where retention rates start high in January and taper off), donor retention in 2024 Q1 has been relatively stable and hovers around -3.0%.

RETENTION - Retention is computed year-to-date. It represents – out of the people who donated last year – the ratio of people who donated again this year year-to-date.

Retention Rate: Donor Type

Year-to-Date Nonprofit Sector Trends
Q1 2024 (JAN 1, 2024 - MAR 31, 2024)

Key Insights

The new donor retention rate dropped by -7.6%, retaining only 7.2% of new donors, underscoring the difficulty in keeping first-time contributors engaged.
The recapture rate saw a significant decline of -16.8%, but given the small base, this translates to a nominal percentage point change of less than 1%. This highlights a major challenge in re-engaging past donors, though the overall impact on the donor base is relatively small.


NEW DONOR RETENTION RATE -7.6% YOY Change	REPEAT DONOR RETENTION RATE -3.9% YOY Change	RECAPTURE RATE -16.8% YOY Change
7.2% retained YTD	24.8% retained YTD	0.8% retained YTD

NEW DONORS - Never gave to this organization before.
REPEAT DONORS - Donors who gave last year to the organization, and were not new last year.
RECAPTURED DONORS - Donors who did not give last year to the organization, but had given in the past.

Retention Rate by Donor Size

Year-to-Date Nonprofit Sector Trends
Q1 2024 (JAN 1, 2024 - MAR 31, 2024)

Key Insights

All donor size segments experienced similar decreases in donor retention compared to Q1 2023.
Supersize donors experienced the smallest drop in retention rate, while the largest decrease in
retention was concentrated among small, midsize and major donors.
Compared to Q1 2023, the fall in retention rates is larger for all segments except supersize donors.
Unlike previous quarters, the retention rate for major donors does not follow the usual trend of
increasing with donor size. This deviation highlights a unique challenge in retaining major donors
compared to other segments this quarter.


MICRO ($1 - $100) -4.5% YOY Change	SMALL ($101 - $500) -5.8% YOY Change	MIDSIZE ($501 - $5K) -5.9% YOY Change	MAJOR ($5K - $50K) -5.8% YOY Change	SUPERSIZE ($50K+) -3.9% YOY Change
10.3% retained YTD	23.0% retained YTD	31.4% retained YTD	28.6% retained YTD	31.9% retained YTD

Donor size segments were chosen to span both dollars and donors, with each segment representing 1-50% of the total.

Retention Rate by Donation Count

Year-to-Date Nonprofit Sector Trends
Q1 2024 (JAN 1, 2024 - MAR 31, 2024)

Key Insights

Despite having the highest retention rates, the most active donors saw the largest declines in retention.
The decrease in topline retention is driven primarily by one-time donors, who constitute nearly two-thirds of donors and showed a 4.5% decrease in retention.


1 DONATION -4.5% YOY Change	2 DONATIONS -2.3% YOY Change	3-6 DONATIONS -5.5% YOY Change	7+ DONATIONS -6.4% YOY Change
7.3% retained YTD	17.3% retained YTD	39.8% retained YTD	81.1% retained YTD

Donation count segments were selected to best illustrate the distribution of total donors and dollars across the giving spectrum. A donor's donation count includes all contributions made year-to-date.

Organization Size Impact: Splits

Year-to-Date Nonprofit Sector Trends
Q1 2024 (JAN 1, 2024 - MAR 31, 2024)

Key Insights

Organizations of all sizes - except those raising less than $100K and those raising between $250K and $1M - saw their average fundraising performance decrease.
The increase in fundraising performance for the smallest organizations is likely driven by a few outliers that have performed very well in Q1 2024, demonstrating an increased variance in fundraising performance among the smallest organizations.
When we consider the median organization, fundraising values have actually fallen for the smallest organizations.
Organizations within the largest size-bracket experienced the largest average decrease in dollars raised. This trend parallels the results from Q1 2023.

% DOLLAR GROWTH (MEAN) - Year-over-year dollar growth for organizations, grouped by an organization's budget size. Trends in the mean are more informative of the sector as a whole.

% DOLLAR GROWTH (MEDIAN) - The median year-over-year dollar growth for organizations, grouped by an organization's budget size. Trends in the median are more indicative of a typical organization's fundraising experience.

Organization Cause: Split

Year-to-Date Nonprofit Sector Trends
Q1 2024 (JAN 1, 2024 - MAR 31, 2024)

Key Insights

Despite constituting 3.5% of total dollars, the International, Foreign Affairs cause category saw the largest YOY increase (9.6%), which is likely attributed to aid and relief campaigns caused by international conflicts.
While overall funds increased, the median amount raised per organization decreased, suggesting that most International, Foreign Affairs organizations performed worse, with a small fraction performing exceptionally well.
Conversely, the Public, Societal Benefit cause category saw a modest decline (6%), with median funding per organization rose significantly, indicating most organizations experienced large increases, with only a few doing poorly.
The Unknown/Unclassified cause area saw a significant drop of -26.4%, primarily due to a disproportionately large number of organizations in this category not reporting data for Q1 2024. When considering only those organizations that fundraised in both years, the decrease is a more moderate -13.6%.

% DOLLAR GROWTH (MEAN) - Year-over-year dollar growth for all organizations of this NTEE major group. More informative about the sector as a whole.

% DOLLAR GROWTH (MEDIAN) - The median year-over-year dollar growth across each organization of this NTEE major group. More indicative of a typical organization's fundraising experience.

FUNDRAISING EFFECTIVENESS PROJECT

The Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) — first established in 2006 — is administered jointly by the Association of Fundraising Professionals and GivingTuesday. The Growth in Giving database is the world’s largest public record of donation activity, with more than 400 million donation transactions, and is continuously updated by top fundraising software partners. The FEP offers quarterly views of the current year’s fundraising data in aggregate, serving as a benchmark for nonprofit executives, development staff, and researchers to examine key fundraising and donor metrics. For more information about how you or your fundraising software provider can participate, please visit https://afpglobal.org/.

METHODOLOGY

We removed organizations that did not have a minimum of 25 donations and $5,000 in revenue in each of the previous three years. We removed organizations at either tail of the revenue growth curve. If revenue growth was more than 300% or less than -66% in any of the past three years, organizations were removed. We also excluded individual contributions above $10M. We weighted our data by organization size and NTEE major group to make it reflective of 2018 IRS filers in the $5K - $25M range of contributions. In 2018, there were 222K IRS filers in this contributions range and passing our growth and size filters, making this report representative of 3.9% of the total relevant filers. Details regarding estimation methodology for late reported data can be found here.




DATA PROVIDERS The FEP wouldn't be possible without data. These software providers make the collection of data in support of the project possible.




DATA REPORTING The FEP wouldn't be possible without data analysis and additional support provided by Bonterra.