Why Donors Leave (And How to Keep Them) · Class 1 of 7
Fewer donors, more dollars
Count your donors and your dollars for the same dates this year and last year, and see whether fewer people are giving.
Many organizations are raising more money from fewer people. This class shows what the latest national numbers say about that, and how to check it in your own records. You count your donors and your dollars for the same dates in both years, then read what the two numbers say together.
Key takeaways
- Dollars went up while donors went down. In 2025, the Fundraising Effectiveness Project found dollars up 5% and the number of donors down almost 4%, the fifth year in a row with fewer donors.
- A few big givers carry the year. Donors who gave more than $5,000 were about 3% of all donors and gave almost 80% of the dollars.
- Count people, not gifts. A donor is a person or household who gave you at least one gift. Someone who gave twelve times counts once.
Your homework
About 20 minutes.
- Pick the same dates for both years: January 1 through today, and the same dates last year.
- Count donors, not gifts. Someone who gave twelve times counts once.
- Write down both donor counts and both dollar totals.
- If donors went down while dollars held steady or rose, more of your year now rests on fewer people.
The free file check counts your donors and dollars for both years from one gifts export.
Get the Class 1 worksheet
A printable page with the steps, a table to fill in and a worked example. Tell us where to send it.
Sources
- Fundraising Effectiveness Project, Q4 2025 report
- Major donor share via Neon One's summary of the same report