Fundraising Update

Editor’s note: This is your last edition of Fundraising Update — but don’t worry! You can stay up-to-date on the latest news and trends about fundraising by signing up for Philanthropy Today, our email newsletter that arrives in your inbox every weekday. Going forward, we’ll also be launching new ways to deliver the journalism and insights you need to do your job. Stay tuned. — Andrew Simon, editor-in-chief

Welcome to Fundraising Update. This week, we look at the factors nonprofits are weighing as they determine whether to launch a capital campaign or wait for a calmer moment. Plus, we explore how the Reeve Foundation has gotten super results — nearly tripling its peer-to-peer fundraising revenue.

I’m Rasheeda Childress, senior editor for fundraising at the Chronicle of Philanthropy. It’s been my pleasure bringing you Fundraising Update for the last few years, and I will miss our weekly updates. However, you’ll continue to find fundraising news on Philanthropy.com and in our other newsletters. If you have comments or questions about this final newsletter, please write me.

Thanks to our sponsor DonorPerfect for supporting Fundraising Update.

In the first six months of the second Trump administration, uncertainty has been the norm for charities throughout the country. That makes it all the more challenging to figure out whether to proceed with capital campaigns — high-profile, multiyear efforts to raise money for a building, project, or endowment, reports my colleague Ben Gose.

When stocks plunged shortly after Trump announced his “liberation day” tariffs in April, some online-fundraising platforms witnessed sharp declines in giving. Zeffy had among the biggest drops, and its CEO, François de Kerret, suggested charities shelter from the turmoil by punting on any planned campaigns. “I would wait a few months,” he said at the time.

Fresco Alessandro

Peter Heller, a fundraising consultant, understands the fear — but disagrees with the response. Heller got into fundraising during a recession in 1990. Then came the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000, the Great Recession in 2008 and 2009, and finally, the dark early days of the pandemic.

“They all had their own feeling and flavor — each was a unique and scary thing,” says Heller. “But in each of those times, money was still being raised.”

In 2008, when it seemed for a time as if the global financial system might collapse, charities raised $308 billion, just 2 percent less than in 2007, according to Giving USA. Charities that retrenched amid the crisis missed out.

“The nonprofits all around the country that stayed in the game — those were the ones that got that $300 billion,” Heller says.

For charities that decide to proceed, the next question becomes how to structure their campaign.

Charities aren’t all the same, says Sarah Jackson, a fundraising consultant, and the organization’s mission and strategy — as well as its donor base — will affect the language and tone of a campaign.

“There is no one set path or template for every nonprofit, whether it’s for a campaign or everyday fundraising,” Jackson says.

For advice from experts, and examples of how charities are carrying out campaigns, during this current moment of uncertainty, read all of Ben’s article.

$1.1 million
— Peer-to-peer revenue at the Reeve Foundation in 2024, up from $400k in 2019

Nonprofit leaders and fundraisers are navigating extremely choppy waters as economic uncertainty continues, federal funding cuts take hold, and competition for charitable support increases. Meanwhile, many everyday donors are searching for ways to give back and offset, in a small way, the stories of suffering and hardship filling the news.

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, started by the late Superman actor and his wife, is ready to make the most of this moment, reports my colleague M.J. Prest.

“When there’s so much chaos, that is when people are motivated to do something good,” says Kelly Lamb, senior development manager at the Reeve Foundation. In her role overseeing its Team Reeve program, she has coached more than 700 volunteer fundraisers on how to throw successful do-it-yourself events that bring together families, colleagues, and communities to funnel donations to paralysis research and care.

When Lamb began directing the program in 2019, Team Reeve generated $400,000 in annual fundraising revenue. Last year, it brought in $1.1 million — at very little cost to the charity.

Most of Team Reeve’s volunteers come through the Reeve Foundation’s National Paralysis Resource Center after supporting a loved one through a spinal-cord injury or experiencing one themselves. They want to give back to the organization, and Team Reeve offers them the perfect opportunity to do so.

Volunteers organize between 20 and 70 events per year, including bake sales, lemonade stands, parents’ nights out, pickleball tournaments, and tastings at local wineries or breweries.

Lamb lets volunteers call the shots: Organizers know their networks best, and it’s validating and motivating for them to throw events they would enjoy and expect to have broad appeal, she says. “They have more fun if they can make it a family or community event.”

For more on the Reeve Foundation, read the rest of M.J.’s story.

• New Fundraiser Salary Data Out. The average salary for U.S. fundraisers was $96,449 in 2024, roughly the same as the previous year, as men in the field continue to make more than women, according to the latest research from the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

  The 2025 Compensation and Benefits Study for U.S. and Canada was based on responses from 2,844 fundraisers. While the average salary fell $172 year over year, the median salary, which looks at the midpoint of salaries, jumped from $83,000 in 2023 to $87,672 in 2024, a 5.6 percent increase.

  The median number is more indicative of the health of fundraising salaries, says Colton Strawser, CEO of the eponymous consulting firm that conducted the research for AFP.

  “The average is a little lower, but I think the median in this case is more meaningful,” Strawser told me. “The median has increased, meaning there’s some consistency within pay across the sector rather than having extreme outliers of people making very little and people making a lot.” For more on fundraisers’ salaries, read my full article.

Trump-Era Survival Strategies: Climbing Back After Losing $300 Million in Federal Funding. The chief fundraiser of Save the Children talks about how to sustain core programs during challenging times.

Could a $5-a-Year Campaign Replace Federal Funding? (Opinion) One leader’s idea to bring new funding to the arts, and why it could be a model for other fields facing government cuts.

Fast Fundraising after Federal Cuts. The Seattle NPR station raised nearly $1.5 million in 12 hours through an emergency fundraising campaign after Congress passed a bill that rescinded $9 billion previously allocated, including $1.1 billion for public television, reports the Seattle Times.

The emergency fundraising campaign launched on-air at 6:30 am; a group of donors had already agreed to match incoming donations up to $700,000. By 1:30 pm, the station had reached its $700,000 fundraising goal. In all, the campaign raised almost $1.5 million.

“We were not expecting that we would meet our goal so early today,” chief marketing officer Annette Promes told the paper. “It has been just overwhelmingly successful for us.” (Seattle Times)