NEW YORK, April 25, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Q4 2024 fundraising data from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) released today shows an increase of 3.5% in dollars raised compared to 2023 levels. However, despite the increase in total dollars, it is estimated that the number of donors and the rates at which donors are retained have declined by 4.5% and 2.6%, respectively, compared to the previous year. While the increase in total dollars donated is cause for celebration, this growth masks significant declines in donor participation, particularly among smaller donors (gifts under $100), who saw a decline of 8.8%, while also making up 50.8% of total donors. These trends underscore the challenges facing nonprofits, particularly the need to re-engage smaller donors and improve retention across all donor segments.
The Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) is a collaborative project of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Foundation for Philanthropy and GivingTuesday and is a collaboration among fundraising data providers, researchers, analysts, associations, and consultants to empower the sector to track and evaluate trends in giving. The project offers one of the only views of the current year’s fundraising data in aggregate to provide the most recent trends for guiding 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 …