08/11/2026
Americans gave a record $617 billion dollars to charity in 2025. But, this isn’t all great news.
The top 300 nonprofits in the U.S. capture almost 25% of donations. Meanwhile, nearly 60% of nonprofits operate on less than $50,000 a year. Since 2000, Charitable participation is down about 16%. And only 3% of donors provide 78% of donations.
So there is a shrinking population of people that donate, and an increasing concentration of wealth in that small group of donors. This small group is becoming more important, and of course with that comes a major problem.
The nonprofit sector rewards size, visibility, and relationships. The organizations that already have scale can not only afford a marketing team to engage new donors, but also a fundraising team to maintain and convert them.
The small- to medium-sized nonprofit, that is operating on an exponentially smaller budget, with no marketing or development team, simply cannot compete.
So how do we solve this problem? There is going to have to be a systemic change that not only encourages philanthropy outside of the major donor class, but directly connects them with the small- to medium-sized nonprofits in their communities.
Without it, the nonprofit sector is going to be facing an extraordinary crisis in the coming decades.
