Fundraising Statistics 2026: Latest US & Online Giving

Good fundraising decisions start with real numbers, not guesses. This page collects the most important verified fundraising statistics for 2026, names the source for every one, and explains in plain language what each means for you.

The major figures come from four trusted authorities: Giving USA (researched by Indiana University), the M+R Benchmarks Study, the GivingTuesday Data Commons, and GoFundMe’s own reporting. Where numbers vary across lower-quality sources, we have either used the figure reported directly by the original organization or left it out.

How to read this page

Every statistic below names its source and year, so you can judge it for yourself. We also flag how confident you should be in each one:

• High confidence. From official annual reports built on large datasets (Giving USA, M+R Benchmarks, GivingTuesday Data Commons).
• Platform data. Reported directly by a company about its own platform (GoFundMe). Accurate for that platform, but not a benchmark for all fundraising.
• Directional. A pattern repeated across credible sources, but without one clean agreed-upon number. Useful as a guide, not a precise figure.

Here is where each source sits:

A few quick definitions, so every number is clear:

• Current dollars vs inflation-adjusted. “Current dollars” means the actual amount given that year. “Inflation-adjusted” accounts for rising prices, so you can compare years fairly.
• Online revenue. Money raised through digital channels (donation pages, email, online ads), not cash, checks, or events.
• Mobile messaging revenue. Money raised specifically through text messages (SMS), a separate and small channel. It is not the same as donations made on a phone.
• Donor-advised fund (DAF). A charity savings account a donor puts money into, then later directs to nonprofits. Popular with wealthier givers.
• Recurring donor. Someone who gives automatically every month, rather than once.
• Average vs median. “Average” can be pulled up by a few huge gifts. “Median” is the middle value, often a more realistic picture of a typical donation.

U.S. charitable giving statistics

These describe the entire landscape of American giving. Source: Giving USA 2025 (data for 2024), researched by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Confidence: high.

$592.5 billion. Americans gave this much to charity in 2024, a record high in current dollars. That works out to roughly $1,700 for every person in the country. (Giving USA 2025. Per-person figure is our calculation using U.S. population estimates.)

6.3%. Total giving grew this much from 2023 to 2024 in current dollars, or 3.3% after adjusting for inflation. Giving usually rises when the economy and stock market are strong. (Giving USA 2025)

66%. Two-thirds of all charitable giving comes from individual people, not companies or foundations. Regular people are the engine of charity. (Giving USA 2025)

$392 billion. The total given by individuals in 2024, up 8.2%, the fastest-growing major source. (Giving USA 2025)

19% and 8%. Foundations gave 19% of the total (about $109 billion) and bequests, gifts left in wills, made up 8% (about $45.84 billion). (Giving USA 2025)

7%. Corporations gave about 7% of the total in 2024, the smallest of the four major sources, though corporate giving grew strongly that year. (Giving USA 2025)

23%. Religious organizations received the largest share of all donations, more than any other cause. (Giving USA 2025)

Online fundraising statistics

These come from the M+R Benchmarks Study 2026 (data for 2025), the standard reference for digital fundraising, based on data from 180 nonprofits. Confidence: high. Note that M+R reports median figures for most metrics, so these describe a typical participating nonprofit rather than a simple average across all of them.

15%. Online giving rose this much in 2025, an unusually strong year across nearly every type of nonprofit, often driven by crisis response. (M+R Benchmarks 2026)

17% vs 12%. One-time giving grew faster than monthly giving in 2025 (17% vs 12%), a notable break from years of monthly giving leading. (M+R Benchmarks 2026)

1.6%. About this share of website visitors actually made a donation, generating $1.33 per visitor on average. (M+R Benchmarks 2026)

$168 vs $88. The average gift from a desktop visitor versus a mobile visitor. Desktop users made up 48% of traffic but 72% of revenue, a reminder that big gifts still often happen on larger screens. (M+R Benchmarks 2026)

44%. Donor-advised fund revenue jumped this much in 2025, with an average DAF gift around $1,430. More donors are giving through these accounts. (M+R Benchmarks 2026)

Email fundraising statistics

16%. Email-driven revenue grew this much in 2025. Email remains one of the most reliable channels year after year. (M+R Benchmarks 2026)

$2.40. The average raised per email subscriber in 2025, up from $1.87 the year before. Every name on your list has real value. (M+R Benchmarks 2026)

$54. For every 1,000 fundraising emails sent, nonprofits raised about this much, a 4% increase over the prior year. (M+R Benchmarks 2026)

0.59%. The average click-through rate on fundraising emails. Out of 1,000 recipients, about six click the link, which is why both list size and message quality matter. (M+R Benchmarks 2026)

Mobile and SMS fundraising statistics

48% growth, under 1% of revenue. Revenue from mobile text messaging (SMS) grew 48% in 2025, but it still makes up less than 1% of all online revenue. It is a fast-growing but still small channel, raising about 9 cents for every dollar email brings in. (M+R Benchmarks 2026)

3.7%. Mobile fundraising text messages had a higher click-through rate than email (3.7%), showing texts get attention even though the channel is small. (M+R Benchmarks 2026)

Recurring donor and retention statistics

Keeping a donor for years is far cheaper than finding a new one. These numbers explain why recurring giving has become a top priority.

27%. Monthly recurring donors provided 27% of all online revenue in 2025. The share rises sharply with organization size: about 22% for small nonprofits, and up to 37% for the largest ones. (M+R Benchmarks 2026. Confidence: high.)

A shift in 2025. For the first time in years, one-time giving grew faster than monthly giving in 2025, partly because of crisis-driven one-time gifts. The long-term trend toward recurring giving is expected to continue, but 2025 was an exception. (M+R Benchmarks 2026. Confidence: high.)

71% vs 24%. After one year, 71% of monthly donors are still giving, compared with just 24% of new one-time donors. This durability is the real reason recurring donors are so valuable: they stay. Some industry estimates put a monthly donor’s lifetime value as high as ten times a one-time donor’s, though the exact multiple depends on retention, gift size, and how long a donor stays. (Retention figures: M+R Benchmarks 2026. The 10x multiple is a directional industry estimate, not a fixed benchmark.)

The practical takeaway: a fast thank-you and an invitation to become a monthly donor are two of the highest-return actions in fundraising, and they cost almost nothing.

GivingTuesday and year-end fundraising statistics

Timing is one of the most powerful factors in fundraising. Sources: M+R Benchmarks 2026 and the GivingTuesday Data Commons. Confidence: high.

37%. More than a third of nonprofits’ annual online revenue arrived in December alone. The end of the year is, by far, the most important fundraising period. (M+R Benchmarks 2026)

10%. The final week of the year alone accounts for about 10% of annual online revenue, and December 31 by itself accounts for 4%. The last days of the year are critical. (M+R Benchmarks 2026)

$4.0 billion. Donated in the United States in one day on GivingTuesday 2025, up 13% over the year before. It is one of the world’s largest organized giving days. (GivingTuesday Data Commons)

38.1 million. The estimated number of people who participated in GivingTuesday 2025. (GivingTuesday Data Commons)

$22.5 billion. The total raised on GivingTuesday since it began in 2012. What started as a hashtag is now a global tradition. (GivingTuesday Data Commons)

48%. In Neon One’s own research, nearly half of GivingTuesday donors gave again before year-end when they were thanked and stewarded well. The follow-up matters almost as much as the gift. This is one platform’s data, not a sector-wide benchmark. (Neon One, 2025. Confidence: directional.)

The lesson is clear: if you can time a campaign for the final weeks of the year, do it. Our fundraiser planning guide covers building a timeline around these peak periods.

Crowdfunding and GoFundMe statistics

These come from GoFundMe’s own 2025 Year in Help report and describe activity on that platform specifically. Confidence: platform data. They should not be treated as benchmarks for all crowdfunding sites, whose published figures vary widely and unreliably.

2.5 per second. GoFundMe recorded an average of 2.5 donations every second in 2025. Online giving never sleeps. (GoFundMe 2025 Year in Help)

79 million. Total donations in 2025: more than 47 million to individuals and 32 million to nonprofits. (GoFundMe 2025 Year in Help)

72 million. The number of times people shared fundraisers in 2025. Sharing is how campaigns reach beyond the organizer’s own circle. (GoFundMe 2025 Year in Help)

January 10. The most generous day on GoFundMe in 2025, when people worldwide supported families and businesses hit by the Los Angeles wildfires. Giving spikes around crises and the new year, not only in December. (GoFundMe 2025 Year in Help)

$40 billion+. The total raised through GoFundMe since 2010, across a community of more than 200 million people. (GoFundMe)

+20%. Fundraising for essential expenses like food rose 20% in 2025, with more fundraisers created for food banks than any other community cause. (GoFundMe 2025 Year in Help)

If you are choosing a platform for a personal or group campaign, see our best fundraising platforms guide and our guide for individuals and families.

What these numbers mean for fundraisers

Statistics only matter when they change what you do. Here is who should focus on what, and the four clearest lessons in the data.

Where to focus, based on who you are

• Nonprofits: Focus on the U.S. giving, online channel, and recurring-donor sections. Building a monthly donor base is the highest-value long-term move.
• Personal fundraisers: Focus on the GoFundMe section and the timing data. Sharing and early support from your own circle drive everything.
• Schools, churches, and teams: Focus on timing, email, and platform choice. Email plus year-end timing covers most of what you need.
• Journalists and researchers: Use the key-stats box and the sources section below. Every figure is attributed.

The four clearest lessons

1. Ask individuals first. Two-thirds of all giving comes from individual people. Personal asks beat institutional ones.
2. Make giving easy on every device. People browse on phones but often give larger gifts on desktop, so your donation page must work flawlessly everywhere.
3. Plan hard for December. More than a third of benchmarked nonprofit online revenue arrives in December. A strong year-end campaign is not optional.
4. Turn one-time donors into monthly ones. A recurring donor is worth far more over time, and a quick thank-you is what starts that relationship.

Sources and methodology

Every statistic on this page comes from one of the sources below. We review and update this page each year as new editions are released.

Last reviewed: May 2026. Next major update: after Giving USA 2026 and the next M+R Benchmarks study are released.

• Giving USA 2025: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2024. Published by the Giving USA Foundation, researched by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. The most comprehensive report on U.S. charitable giving, published annually for 70 years.
• M+R Benchmarks Study 2026 (data for 2025). An annual study of nonprofit digital fundraising based on data from 180 organizations. The standard reference for online, email, and mobile fundraising performance. M+R reports median figures for most metrics. Sections used in this article: Fundraising, Email Messaging, Mobile Messaging, Website Performance.
• GivingTuesday Data Commons (2025 results). The official research arm of the GivingTuesday movement, estimating participation and donation totals each year.
• GoFundMe 2025 Year in Help. GoFundMe’s own annual reporting on donation activity across its platform.
• Neon One (GivingTuesday 2025 press release) is cited for one directional figure (GivingTuesday repeat giving), clearly labeled as such in the text.

Where industry figures varied significantly across sources (common with crowdfunding), we used only figures reported directly by the platform or labeled the finding as directional. Per-person figures are calculated from source totals and U.S. population estimates. We deliberately exclude unverified statistics that circulate on lower-quality websites.

Frequently asked questions

How much money is donated to charity each year in the US?

Americans gave an estimated $592.5 billion to charity in 2024, a record high in current dollars, according to Giving USA 2025. That was a 6.3% increase over the previous year. It works out to roughly $1,700 for every person in the country.

What percentage of charitable giving comes from individuals?

About 66%, two-thirds, of all U.S. charitable giving comes from individual people, according to Giving USA 2025. Individuals gave roughly $392 billion in 2024, far more than foundations (19%), bequests (8%), or corporations (7%).

What percentage of donations happen in December?

About 37% of nonprofits’ annual online revenue arrived in December, according to M+R Benchmarks 2026. The final week of the year accounted for about 10%, and December 31 alone accounted for 4%, making it the single biggest giving day of the year for many organizations.

How much was raised on GivingTuesday?

GivingTuesday 2025 raised an estimated $4.0 billion in the United States in one day, up 13% over the previous year, with about 38.1 million people participating, according to the GivingTuesday Data Commons. Since 2012, GivingTuesday has raised a cumulative $22.5 billion.

Is online giving growing?

Yes. Online giving rose 15% in 2025, an unusually strong year, according to M+R Benchmarks 2026. Email revenue grew 16% and donor-advised fund revenue grew 44%. Notably, one-time giving grew faster than monthly giving in 2025, a break from recent trends.

How active is GoFundMe?

GoFundMe recorded an average of 2.5 donations every second in 2025, with more than 79 million total donations and 72 million fundraiser shares, according to its 2025 Year in Help report. The most generous day was January 10, driven by support for Los Angeles wildfire victims.

When is the best time to run a fundraiser?

The final weeks of the year are the most productive period by a wide margin. December accounts for about 37% of nonprofits’ annual online revenue, the last week alone for about 10%, and GivingTuesday (the Tuesday after Thanksgiving) is one of the world’s largest organized giving days. Timing a campaign for late November through December 31 reaches donors when they are most ready to give.

How valuable is a monthly donor compared to a one-time donor?

Monthly donors are worth substantially more over time, mainly because they stay far longer. M+R Benchmarks 2026 found that 71% of monthly donors were still active after a year, compared with just 24% of new one-time donors. Some industry estimates put a monthly donor’s lifetime value as high as ten times a one-time donor’s, though the exact multiple varies. This is why converting one-time givers into monthly donors is considered one of the highest-return actions in fundraising.

Numbers only matter when they change what you do. The clearest lessons: most giving comes from individuals, so personal asks matter most; the end of the year is when people give, so time your campaign for it; make giving easy on every device; and a monthly donor is worth far more than a single gift, so always follow up. Use these figures to set realistic goals and benchmark your own results.

Read also

• How to Start a Fundraiser: The Beginner’s 7-Day Plan
• How to Plan a Fundraiser: 12-Step Guide That Works
• How to Promote a Fundraiser: 40 Proven Tactics
• Best Fundraising Platforms 2026: Compared & Ranked
• 500+ Fundraising Ideas for Every Group and Goal