We’ve all heard the new trend: more dollars, fewer donors. Across the nonprofit sector, organizations are seeing a growing amount of dollars raised come from a shrinking pool of supporters. It’s an eye-opening shift—not only because of what it says about donor behavior, but because of what it means for donor acquisition strategies moving forward.
As fundraising dollars increasingly come from fewer donors, the instinct might be to elevate acquisition efforts to build our annual giving programs and long-term donor pipelines. But this shift also forces nonprofits to consider whether traditional acquisition remains effective or financially sustainable when the cost to acquire a new donor continues to rise.
Despite Giving USA’s report of a record-breaking $592.5 billion in charitable giving in 2024—driven largely by individual donors—we’re still facing shrinking donor files. So, the real question becomes: How do we address acquisition challenges in a year of record generosity?
The Fundraising Effectiveness Project’s (FEP) quarterly reports bring this all into sharp focus. By Q3 2024, new donor acquisition had fallen 11.5% year-over-year, and new donor retention sat at just 13.8%. This marks the fourth consecutive year of declining retention. By Q4, overall donor counts dropped by another 4.5%.
There’s also a hollowing out of small donors. According to FEP’s Q4 2024 report, small-dollar donors under $100 saw the steepest decline at –8.8%. This signals that acquisition strategies focused solely on major gifts or one-off campaigns are not only risky but ultimately unsustainable.
The donor funnel is leaking badly. New donor acquisition isn’t keeping pace, and the donors we do acquire aren’t staying long enough to sustain growth.
Why Digital Alone Can’t Rebuild the Donor Pipeline
Over the last decade, many nonprofits have quietly bet that digital would fix donor acquisition—more email, more social, and more ads. But the sector’s own benchmarks tell a more complicated story.
According to the 2024 M+R Benchmarks Study, overall dollars raised online declined by about 1% in 2023, even as digital audiences grew. Email still drives a meaningful share of online giving—about 16% of all online fundraising—but dollars raised from email fell by roughly 7%. Core email metrics, including opens, clicks, and response rates, declined across the board, while list sizes continued to increase.
In other words, nonprofits are reaching more people digitally but getting less response per person.
Social and other digital channels tell a similar story. Nonprofits are successfully growing followings—M+R reports that TikTok audiences more than doubled, and Facebook and Instagram followers also saw growth. Yet, that growth hasn’t translated into more dollars raised.
We’re adding more people to the top of the funnel, but the funnel itself hasn’t gotten much better at turning attention into loyal donors.
This is where a multi-channel, curated donor journey becomes critical. A multi-touch strategy matters. If digital is the hello, what happens next? If we warm audiences with a newsletter, where does the true conversion to a donation happen?
Digital isn’t a silver bullet. It’s a spark, not the engine.
Here are some proven strategies for curated donor journeys—strategies designed to get to the heart of donor acquisition.
How to Turn Donor Attention into Donor Action
1. Smarter Email Acquisition: From Blasts to Behavior-Driven Journeys
If email is underperforming, the solution isn’t more volume. Growing your lists is important, but the real opportunity is in increasing relevance.
Instead of a one-size-fits-all welcome series, trigger email messaging based on donor behavior: where someone first engaged, what content they consumed, or whether they opened or clicked a prior email. This approach lets you tailor the first ask to the donor’s demonstrated interests.
Ensure these communications are story-forward, not ask-forward. When donors are overwhelmed with campaigns and causes, the organizations that hold attention are the ones rooted in narrative—the power of storytelling—not just organizational needs.
2. Segmented Direct Mail: The Quiet Powerhouse
Many organizations think of direct mail as old-school acquisition. Yet both the donors and the data say otherwise. When FEP shows donor retention dropping year after year, direct mail becomes one of the few channels where engagement has stability.
When paired with smart segmentation, it becomes one of the most effective tools for both acquisition and early retention. When donors receive mail that aligns with how they behave, what they care about, and how they give, response rates rise—and so does loyalty.
Some ideas for segmenting for greater impact include:
3. Design an Experience: Map the Donor Journey Across the Full Year
Direct mail and digital marketing are essential channels, but they are only part of the picture. What truly strengthens acquisition is the intentional design of a donor journey that unfolds over time and throughout the fiscal year, not just across campaigns. Too often, nonprofits execute touchpoints independently instead of orchestrating a continuous experience.
Designing a donor journey means stepping back to map how a donor should feel and engage across the entire year. It’s about moving from isolated tactics to a thoughtful sequence of touchpoints, including impact updates, story-driven content, and well-timed asks.
You’re not alone if you’re rethinking your acquisition strategy for 2026. Given shifting donor behavior and rising acquisition costs, adjusting your approach isn’t just smart, it’s necessary. Whatever changes you make, the most effective strategies keep the donor experience at the center, focusing not just on acquisition, but on building relationships that last.
Written by Julie Smith, Director of Fundraising Strategy at Streamworks