2026 Nonprofit Benchmark Report

About the 2026 Benchmark Report

This year’s report includes giving data from 771 mid-sized US-based nonprofits, up from 571 last year. Each organization has been on the Virtuous platform for at least two years. 

The dataset spans multiple sectors, including human services, faith, healthcare, education, and more. 

The data is displayed in aggregate and broken out by revenue:

• Under $1M (245 organizations)
• $1-5M (335 organizations)
• $5-10M (95 organizations)
• $10M+ (96 organizations)

All participating organizations are Virtuous customers, and Virtuous-powered nonprofits have historically outperformed sector averages, often due to their use of responsive fundraising. These benchmarks may skew slightly higher than industry-wide reports as a result.

You can learn more about responsive fundraising HERE. 

What’s New This Year

We made several updates to how we calculate and present the data. Some metrics were refined, and one is brand new.

Gift Frequency is a new metric this year. It measures the average number of gifts per donor per year.

Gross Donor Retention now uses a lookback window that was tightened from 25 months to 24 months to more precisely capture year-over-year donor behavior.

1st to 2nd Gift Conversion now uses a fiscal year filter (July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025) for a cleaner year-over-year comparison.

Median Gift now includes gifts of $10K+ in the calculation.

Average Online Gift now includes Crypto and PayPal gift types alongside Web, Email, SMS, and Social Media channels.

Donor Expansion is now calculated from a refined formula to measure total revenue from retained donors this year, divided by total revenue from those same donors last year.

Recurring Giving now includes all gifts from recurring payment plans plus all gifts from donors who gave between 6 and 12 times during the year.

Portfolio Balance now uses cumulative annual giving to assign donor tiers, not single gift amounts.

Donor Lifetime Value now uses a 5-year, cohort-based model that factors in retention, growth rate, and donor value.

The Story in This Year’s Data: Depth, Not Breadth

Retention is flat. Second-gift conversion dropped. But the donors who stayed gave more often, at higher amounts, and their lifetime value jumped nearly 18%.

As opposed to growth coming from reaching more people, it’s coming from stronger relationships with the people already in your database. The metrics in this report will help you see where those relationships are working, where they’re at risk, and where you have the most room to grow.

A Note from Carly Berna

Fundraiser in Residence, VP of Marketing at Virtuous

This report matters to me. As a former fundraiser, I know how rare it is to get a clear look at what’s actually happening across the sector. So now, it’s a true privilege to provide an honest look across fundraising metrics and help interpret the data, spot the opportunities, and put it all into action.

Last year, the big message was “flat doesn’t mean failing.” This year, the numbers are telling us something new, and if you’re paying attention, there’s real opportunity in it.

Here’s what I mean. Retention is essentially flat. Second-gift conversion actually dropped. If you stopped there, you might feel discouraged. But look at what’s happening with the donors who are staying: they’re giving more often, at higher amounts, and their lifetime value jumped nearly 18%.

The sector is growing deeper with the donors it has. And that’s a meaningful shift.

It also means the old playbook of “acquire more, send more, hope for the best” isn’t going to cut it. I know how easy it is as a fundraiser to overlook retention and skip right to acquisition. We do this because acquisition can feel more straightforward and even easier.    

But the organizations pulling ahead right now are the ones doubling down on the supporters already in their database. They’re building real follow-up systems. They’re investing in their mid-level donors. They’re making recurring giving feel like the natural next step instead of an afterthought. And if you’re intentional about these steps, you will see a difference. 

And the good news is that now, in the age of AI, the speed of what’s possible has changed. Follow-up that used to take days can now happen the same day a gift comes in. Donor research that took an afternoon can be surfaced in seconds. The best practices haven’t changed, but the timeline for executing them has gotten dramatically shorter. So, while donor expectations continue to move towards a faster, more personalized approach, so has the technology to meet them where they are.

If you’re reading this report between back-to-back meetings with a half-finished appeal draft open in another tab, I see you. The pace of this work doesn’t leave a lot of room for stepping back and looking at the bigger picture. That’s exactly what this report is for.

Wha

t we see in this data gives clarity as well as hope. You don’t have to do everything at once. Pick the metric where you have the most room to grow, read the steps we’ve outlined, and start there. Small, consistent changes are what move the needle over time.

So, dig in. Compare your numbers. Bring your team into the conversations. And know that we’re cheering you on. Carly Berna Fundraiser in Residence, VP of Marketing, Virtuous

How to Use This Report to Take Next Steps: A Look at the Virtuous Platform

This report is built to be practical. Every metric includes specific next steps, and many of those steps point to tools that can help you actually execute them. 

Virtuous is an integrated suite of fundraising software designed to work together, so here’s a quick look at the products you’ll see referenced throughout.

Virtuous CRM+ (Nonprofit CRM) — Donor management, automation, and workflows.

Virtuous Momentum (AI Fundraising Assistant) — AI-drafted outreach, daily prioritized lists, and donor plans for gift officers.

Virtuous Raise (Online Giving) — Donation forms, campaign pages, and responsive ask arrays.

Virtuous Insights (Donor Intelligence available within CRM+) — Wealth data, predictive modeling, and donor scoring. 

Virtuous Analytics (Reporting & Dashboards available within CRM+) — Custom dashboards, real-time reporting, and board-ready formatting. 

Virtuous Volunteer (Volunteer Management) — Scheduling, communication, and volunteer mobilization.

These tools are all designed around a single framework we call responsive fundraising, a fundraising framework based around 4 steps:

1. Listening to real donor signals. 
2. Connecting with the right message at the right time. 
3. Suggesting the right next step based on what you know. 
4. Learning from the data and refine.

Together, these connected fundraising tools help your team do all four, so you spend less time on manual work and more time building real relationships with your donors.

The 7 Metrics That Matter

Each metric follows the same structure: 

• What it is
• How we calculated it
• The benchmarks
• What the data is telling us
• How it connects to other metrics
• What to do about it

Sub-metrics are included where they add meaningful context.

Your organization might outperform in some areas and fall behind in others. The goal isn’t to compare yourself rigidly against every number. It’s to find the places where a focused effort could make the biggest difference, and start there.

If you want to go deeper on any of these topics beyond what we cover in this report, we’ve linked a companion article for each metric:

• Donor Retention
• Average Gift Amount
• Donor Expansion
• Recurring Giving
• Portfolio Balance
• New Donor Acquisition
• Donor Lifetime Value

Metric 1: Donor Retention

What It Is

Gross donor retention is the percentage of donors who gave last year and also gave again this year. It’s the clearest measure of whether your organization is building lasting relationships or refilling a leaking bucket every twelve months.

How We Calculated This Metric

Retention Rate = Number of Donors Retained / Number of Donors Who Gave Last Year. Donors who gave between 13-24 months ago are measured against whether they gave again in the most recent 12 months.

What changed this year: The calculation was refined to more precisely reflect year-over-year continuity, ensuring even cleaner comparison of active donor behavior.

The Benchmarks

Overall Retention Rate: 54.73% Top Quartile: 69.64%

Top Performers

Organizations in the top quartile retained nearly 7 out of 10 donors.

At that level, you need far less acquisition to grow. Your revenue base becomes significantly more stable. And your team can spend less time replacing donors and more time growing the ones you have.

Breaking Down the Data

Retention ticked up slightly from last year. On the surface, not dramatic. But context matters: first-to-second gift conversion dropped to 25.84%, meaning fewer new donors are even entering the retention pool. For retention to hold despite that, organizations are clearly getting stronger at engaging their existing multi-year donors.

And those retained donors are worth more. Gift frequency rose. Average and median gift both climbed. Donor lifetime value jumped nearly 18%. The sector is growing deeper with the donors it has, even as the front door gets narrower.

By revenue: The size gap is the sharpest pattern here. Organizations under $1M retain just 37.30%, compared to 56.81% for $10M+ organizations. Larger organizations tend to have automated stewardship and recurring infrastructure that smaller teams simply haven’t built yet.

By sector: Faith leads at 61.29% thanks to regular, community-driven giving habits. Healthcare sits lowest at 38.45%, reflecting the one-time, gratitude-driven nature of most healthcare gifts.

How This Connects to Other Metrics

• 1st to 2nd Gift Conversion: If new donors never make a second gift, they never enter your retention pool.
• Gift Frequency: Donors who give more often are much harder to lose.
• Lifetime Value: Even small retention improvements compound over time in ways that add up fast. Each retained donor contributes more gifts, at higher amounts, across more years.

Next Best Steps

Here are 3 steps to strengthen your retention.

1. Identify donors about to lapse before they disappear.

Look for the warning signs: declining open rates, longer gaps between gifts, smaller gift amounts. The earlier you spot disengagement, the easier it is to course-correct with a personal touchpoint or a re-engagement campaign.

Virtuous CRM+and Virtuous Insights surfaced donors showing early signs of disengagement, so your team can step in while there’s still a relationship to save.

2. Make personal stewardship a system, not a to-do list.

The organizations with the highest retention rates are making personal contact (calls, handwritten notes, one-on-one updates) and doing it consistently, not when someone happens to have a free afternoon.

Virtuous Momentum builds a donor bio, drafts a personalized engagement plan, and creates touchpoints your team can review, confirm, and execute.

3. Build automated touchpoints between asks.

Your donors need to hear from you between asks. Impact updates, thank-you sequences, and milestone acknowledgments (the anniversary of a first gift, a cumulative giving threshold) keep donors connected without requiring manual effort.

Set these up once in InVirtuous CRM+, and they run for every donor, every time.

Retention Sub-Metrics

Three additional metrics feed directly into your retention story. Each one gives you a different angle on how and when donors decide to stay or leave.

1st to 2nd Gift Conversion

What It Is

The percentage of first-time donors who came back and made a second gift within 12 months. It’s the single strongest leading indicator of whether a new donor will become a retained donor.

How We Calculated This Metric

1st to 2nd Gift Rate = Number of First-Time Donors Who Gave a Second Gift / Total Number of First-Time Donors in the Period.

What changed this year: This is the only metric filtered by fiscal year (July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025) rather than calendar year, allowing for a clean year-over-year comparison since many first-time donors are acquired late in the calendar year.

The Benchmarks

Overall: 25.84% Top Quartile: 37.86%

Top Performers

Organizations in the top quartile converted nearly 4 out of 10 first-time donors to a second gift. That kind of early conversion rate lifts every metric that follows, from retention to frequency to lifetime value.

Breaking Down the Data

This is one of the most notable declines in the data. Conversion dropped slightly, meaning roughly three out of four new donors never come back for a second gift. The drop showed up across the board, with the only bright spot being Human Services, which held relatively steady.

By revenue: Organizations under $1M convert just 14.56% of first-time donors, compared to 28.36% for $10M+ organizations. For smaller organizations, this is where a focused effort can make the biggest difference.

By sector: Education saw the sharpest decline, though that’s partly expected: when new donor counts rise sharply (as Education’s did), a lower conversion rate often follows because more of those donors are very early in their relationship with the organization.

How This Connects to Other Metrics

• Donor Retention: A drop in conversion directly limits how many donors can be retained in future years.
• Gift Frequency: No second gift means no chance to become a high-frequency giver.
• Lifetime Value: Fewer donors making a second gift means fewer donors entering the long-term relationship where LTV is built. Every donor lost before that second gift is lifetime value that never gets a chance to develop.

Next Best Steps

Here’s how to get more donors to that second gift.

1. Build a dedicated new donor welcome series.

Your new donors need their own communication track in the first 30 to 60 days: immediate thank-you, impact story within a week, soft second ask tied to a tangible outcome.

Virtuous CRM+ handles the sequencing for you. Thank-you tasks get assigned, personalized emails go out on schedule, and the second ask shows up tied to real impact.

2. Get to new donors fast with personal outreach.

The old playbook said 48 hours to contact after a gift is best practice. With the right tools, there’s no reason to wait that long. A personal touchpoint as close to the first gift as possible dramatically increases the chances of a second one. A quick phone call or short video thank-you can do more than a month of emails.

Virtuous Momentum surfaces new donors who need personal follow-up right when it matters.

3. Make the second ask feel different from the first.

Show what’s changed since they gave. A quick update on the project they funded, a story from someone their gift helped, a reason to come back that feels like progress.

Solo Parent doubled first-to-second gift retention and grew giving by 50% after switching to Virtuous CRM+. Read the full story →

Days Between 1st and 2nd Gift

What It Is

The average number of days between a donor’s first and second gift, for all donors who converted within 12 months. The faster that second gift happens, the more likely the donor is to stay engaged long term.

How We Calculated This Metric

Average Days to Second Gift = Date of Second Gift minus Date of First Gift, for all donors who gave a second gift within 12 months of their first.

The Benchmarks

Overall: 108.5 days Top Quartile: 68 days

Top Performers

Organizations in the top quartile secured a second gift in just over two months. That speed reflects strong onboarding, timely follow-up, and giving opportunities that show up when donors are still feeling connected to their first gift.

Breaking Down the Data

The overall number improved from last year’s data, which is encouraging. Donors who do convert are doing it faster, suggesting organizations are getting better at following up after the first gift with acknowledgment, impact reporting, and timely re-engagement.

By revenue: $10M+ organizations average 102.6 days, while organizations under $1M still average 130.1 days. More follow-up infrastructure consistently leads to faster conversion.

By sector: Faith organizations are fastest at 106 days, driven by the regular cadence of community giving. Education is slowest at 147.5 days, nearly five months, suggesting mid-level and annual fund donors aren’t being re-engaged quickly enough after their first gift.

How This Connects to Other Metrics

• Donor Retention: Donors who convert quickly tend to stay active longer.
• 1st to 2nd Gift Conversion: A four-month average window means many donors are not engaging with touchpoints immediately following the gift, or they have already disengaged by the time they’re asked again. Closing that gap lifts conversion.
• Lifetime Value: Faster second gifts lead to stronger retention, which compounds into higher LTV.

Next Best Steps

Here’s how to close the gap between the first and second gift.

1. Set a speed benchmark and track it.

Know your current average days-to-second-gift and set a target to shorten it. Track it regularly, and use it as a leading indicator for how well your post-gift experience is actually working.

Virtuous Analytics automatically tracks your days-to-second-gift trends over time via a pre-built dashboard, so you can see whether your follow-up changes are moving the needle.

2. Compress your follow-up timeline.

Before the age of AI, we used to recommend sending a post-gift sequence within 48 hours. With AI, the timeline for follow-up has increased, and with AI-powered fundraising assistants, this is possible.  

Virtuous Momentum notifies your gift officers instantly when a new gift comes in and drafts personalized follow-up copy on the spot, so they can respond the same day with a message that feels thoughtful, not templated.

3. Treat every new donor like a major donor, starting with the ones most likely to give again.

Every first-time donor deserves a personal, meaningful response. With the right data, you can go further, tailoring your follow-up based on each donor’s capacity and connection so every touchpoint feels intentional, as opposed to transactional.

When a first-time donor gives, Virtuous Insights instantly scores them on wealth, capacity, and connection to your mission. Then, Virtuous Moment prioritizes the highest-potential new donors in your gift officers’ daily inbox, triggering personal follow-up while the connection is still fresh.

Gift Frequency

What It Is

Brand new to this year’s report, gift frequency measures how many times the average donor gives per year. Retention tells you whether a donor came back. Frequency tells you how often they showed up.

How We Calculated This Metric

Gift Frequency = Average number of gifts per donor on a year-over-year basis, including all gift types.

The Benchmarks

Overall: 4.15 gifts per donor Top Quartile: 6.62

Top Performers

Organizations in the top quartile saw donors give more than 6 times per year on average. At that frequency, donors are engaged at a rhythm that makes lapsing unlikely and lifetime value much higher.

Breaking Down the Data

When looking at historical data, overall giving frequency ticked up slightly. A small move, but it reinforces the broader theme: retained donors are giving more often and more generously, even as the total donor pool isn’t growing much.

By revenue: Donors to organizations under $1M averaged 2.94 gifts per year, while donors to $10M+ organizations averaged 4.42. Larger organizations have more infrastructure to create regular giving touchpoints, and frequency reflects that directly.

By sector: Faith leads at 4.68, driven by recurring giving cadences. Education is lowest at 2.33, which tracks with how Education fundraising typically works: fewer asks, bigger gifts, less ongoing rhythm.

How This Connects to Other Metrics

• Donor Retention: Higher frequency is a primary reason retention held steady even as second-gift conversion dropped. Donors giving at a higher cadence are harder to lose.
• Lifetime Value: Frequency is one of the biggest drivers behind the 18% LTV increase this year.
• Recurring Giving: Frequency and recurring giving reinforce each other. Donors who give regularly, whether on a monthly plan or not, are harder to lose and consistently drive higher retention and LTV.

Next Best Steps

Here are 3 steps to get your donors giving more often.

1. Create more reasons to give outside of your major campaigns.

If your donors only hear from you during year-end and a spring appeal, they don’t have many chances to say yes. Think beyond the big campaigns. A program milestone, a quick update on an urgent need, or a behind-the-scenes look at your work can all be natural moments to invite a gift.

Virtuous Raise widgets (floating donate buttons, countdown timers, project impact displays, and more) let you embed giving opportunities anywhere on your website, meeting donors in the moment they’re most inspired to act.

2. Use recurring giving as a frequency accelerator.

Converting even a small percentage of occasional donors to recurring immediately moves your frequency number and strengthens retention at the same time.

Virtuous Raise includes a built-in recurring gift prompt that nudges one-time donors to convert to monthly giving right in the moment of generosity, suggesting personalized recurring amounts based on their selected gift.

3. Layer in meaningful touchpoints between appeals.

Impact updates, thank-you videos, survey invitations, and program stories all keep donors engaged between campaigns. The more often a donor hears from you in a way that feels personal, the more natural the next ask feels.

One mid-level gift officer doubled her portfolio size and used Virtuous Momentum’s AI-drafted emails to 2x her personalized outreach. She created more meaningful touchpoints between campaigns, the kind of consistent engagement that keeps donors giving more often. Read the full story →

Metric 2: Gift Amounts

Gift amounts are measured three ways in this report:

• Average gift amount
• Median gift amount
• Average online gift amount

Average Gift Amount

What It Is

Average gift measures the mean dollar amount across all donations. It gives you a good read on both the capacity of your donor base and how well your appeals are landing.

How We Calculated This Metric

Average Gift = Total Giving / Number of Gifts, excluding single gifts of $10K or greater.

The Benchmarks

Overall: $136.00 Top Quartile: $516

Top Performers

Organizations in the top quartile achieved an average gift of $516. That kind of performance typically reflects strong ask strategies, well-segmented appeals, and donors who feel connected enough to the mission to give generously.

Breaking Down the Data

Average gift showed gains across nearly every revenue and sector. Education was the one exception, where the average gift declined.

By revenue: Smaller organizations actually see higher average gifts ($187.43 for under $1M) compared to larger ones ($126.23 for $10M+). That pattern flips for nearly every other metric in this report. Smaller organizations tend to have fewer donors giving at higher amounts, while larger organizations have broader bases giving more frequently at lower amounts.

By sector: Education leads at $237.70, reflecting its higher-capacity donor base. Faith comes in at $141.96, where the lower average is offset by the highest gift frequency of any sector.

How This Connects to Other Metrics

• Lifetime Value: Gift size and frequency are two of the biggest inputs into LTV. When both rise at the same time, as they did this year, the effect on lifetime value is compounding.
• Donor Expansion: Average gift climbing while retention holds steady means your retained base is becoming more valuable year over year.

Next Best Steps

Here are 2 steps to grow your average gift.

1. Anchor your ask amounts higher.

If your average gift is $136, don’t start your donation form at $25. Start at or slightly above your current average. The set amount sets a precedent for your donors as they consider what to give. 

Virtuous Raise offers responsive ask arrays that adapt suggested amounts based on each donor’s giving history.

2. Segment your upgrade asks by giving history.

A donor who gave $50 three times last year needs a different ask than someone who gave $500 once. Tailor your messaging and amounts to reflect what you already know.

Virtuous Insights gives you Enhanced Ask Strategies with three data-driven views for every donor:

• One-Time: A specific dollar amount anchored to each donor’s actual giving capacity.
• Recurring: A clear ask tailored to sustain giving over time.
• Direct Response: A targeted amount optimized for digital and mail campaigns.

Each one is powered by a combination of your CRM data and verified third-party wealth indicators as opposed to guesswork.

Median Gift Amount

What It Is

Median gift tells you the midpoint of your gift distribution. Half of all gifts fall above, half fall below. Unlike the average, it isn’t pulled around by large donations, making it one of the best indicators of what your everyday donor is actually giving.

How We Calculated This Metric

Median Gift = The middle gift amount when all gifts are sorted from smallest to largest.

What changed this year: Gifts of $10K+ are now included in the median calculation (previously excluded). Since the median looks at the midpoint, large gifts have minimal impact on this number.

The Benchmarks

Overall: $50.00 

Median Online gift: $50

Top Quartile: $103

Top Performers

Organizations in the top quartile achieved a median gift of $103.

Breaking Down the Data

The median increased nearly 20% from last year. When the median gift rises faster than the average gift, it means growth is happening in the broad middle of your donor base, not just from a few large gifts pulling the average up.

By revenue: Median gift is remarkably consistent across sizes, ranging from $40.00 ($5-10M) to $50.00 (under $1M, $1-5M, and $10M+). That consistency reinforces what this metric does best: it shows what’s happening with your everyday donors regardless of how your top donors behave.

By sector: Human Services was the standout, with one of the strongest single-sector median gift improvements in the data.

How This Connects to Other Metrics

• Donor Expansion: Everyday donors giving more strengthens expansion and adds stability to your revenue base.
• Lifetime Value: When your typical donor is giving more per gift, that increase carries across every year they stay, lifting LTV from the middle of your donor base up.

Next Best Steps

Here’s how to lift your median gift.

1. Focus upgrade efforts on the broad middle of your donor file.

Virtuous Raise is rolling out built-in A/B testing that lets you test two complete donation page versions against real visitor traffic, choose the metric that matters most (revenue per visitor, conversion rate, average gift, or recurring gift conversion), and let statistically rigorous analysis declare a winner.

2. Make the upgrade feel personal.

A donor at $50 doesn’t need a generic “give more” email. They need to see what $75 does differently. Tie the increase to a specific outcome, and make the case in language that feels like a conversation, not a form letter.

Virtuous CRM+ lets you build segmented upgrade workflows with personalized content, so each donor gets a message that reflects their giving history.

Average Online Gift Amount

What It Is

Average online gift measures how much donors give per transaction through digital channels. It’s a direct reflection of how well your online giving experience converts visitors into generous givers.

How We Calculated This Metric

Average Online Gift = Total Online Giving / Number of Online Gifts, excluding single gifts of $10K or greater.

What changed this year: The definition now includes Crypto and PayPal as gift types in addition to gifts from Web, Email, SMS, and Social Media channels.

The Benchmarks

Overall: $114.90

Breaking Down the Data

Average online gift dipped slightly, a consistent decline across sectors, with the sharpest drops in Education and Healthcare. This likely reflects a broader mix of online donors entering at lower gift amounts, which naturally softens the average even as total online revenue may be growing.

By revenue: $1-5M organizations lead at $141.26 per online gift, while $10M+ organizations average $110.19, which makes sense when you have a larger pool of donors giving at lower individual amounts.

By sector: Faith is lowest at $108.41, though that looks different when you factor in Faith’s recurring giving rate of 25.22%. A $50 monthly online gift is worth far more than a one-time $108 donation.

How This Connects to Other Metrics

• New Donor Acquisition: As more new donors enter through digital channels, online average can dip even while total online revenue grows.
• Recurring Giving: For organizations with strong recurring programs, online giving becomes the backbone of predictable monthly revenue.

Next Best Steps

Here are 3 steps to improve your online giving.

1. Remove friction from the giving experience.

Every extra click, form field, or slow page load costs you dollars. Donors who hit friction during checkout give less or abandon the form entirely. A clean, fast, mobile-friendly experience lifts online gift size without changing your ask amounts.

2. Build context around the giving moment.

A donation form on a blank page tells donors nothing. Progress thermometers, impact displays, donor walls, and countdown timers create urgency and social proof that nudge gift amounts up.

3. Test different ask amounts on your forms.

Run tests with different starting amounts and array structures. Even small adjustments to your suggested amounts can have a measurable impact. What works for a year-end campaign may not work for a spring appeal.

Virtuous Raise covers all three of these. 

• Mobile wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and Venmo) give donors a frictionless checkout experience. 
• Dynamic widgets let you embed impact displays and progress thermometers anywhere on your site without a developer. 
• Responsive ask arrays tailor suggested amounts to each donor’s personal giving history.

Metric 3: Donor Expansion

What It Is

Donor Expansion measures whether your retained donors are giving more or less than they did the year before. A score above 100 means they gave more. Below 100 means they gave less.

How We Calculated This Metric

Donor Expansion = Total Revenue from Retained Donors This Year / Total Revenue from Those Same Donors Last Year.

What changed this year: The formula was refined to show an even clearer picture of revenue growth or contraction within your existing donor base.

The Benchmarks

Overall: 104.42% Top Quartile: 158%

Top Performers

Organizations in the top quartile saw their retained donors increase giving by 58% year over year. That level of expansion typically reflects intentional upgrade strategies, strong mid-level cultivation, and donors who feel increasingly invested in the mission over time.

Breaking Down the Data

Overall expansion ticked up just slightly. Retained donors are giving slightly more each year, which is encouraging alongside flat retention. When the donors who stay are also giving more, your revenue base grows even without adding new people.

By revenue: Mid-sized organizations saw the strongest expansion: $1-5M at 113.39% and $5-10M at 113.64%. The smallest organizations came in at 103.08%, still above 100 but with less momentum. $10M+ landed at 102.37%, suggesting larger retained bases are harder to move in aggregate.

By sector: Education came in at 68.09%, the only sector where retained donors gave less than the prior year. That’s driven by unusually large gifts in 2023 and 2024 that didn’t repeat, not by broad donor disengagement. On the other end, Human Services (110.70%) and Faith (110.62%) both showed strong expansion.

How This Connects to Other Metrics

• Gift Frequency + Gift Amounts: When retained donors give more often and at higher amounts, expansion naturally follows.
• Lifetime Value: Expansion is why LTV jumped 18% this year, even with flat retention. The retained base is worth more because each donor is contributing more.
• Portfolio Balance: Heavy major donor concentration means a single large gift not repeating can swing your expansion score dramatically. Education’s 68.09% is a direct example.

Next Best Steps

Here are 3 steps to grow giving from the donors you already have.

1. Find donors who are giving below their potential.

Many of your most generous future donors are already in your database. They gave $100 last year, but they have the capacity and the connection to give $500. Use giving potential and engagement data to find them.

Virtuous Insights gives you an aggregate view of your entire donor base with predictive likelihood indicators for recurring giving, major gift potential, lapsing, and upgrading. This lets you filter and prioritize the donors most likely to respond, not just the ones who gave the most last year.

2. Build intentional upgrade paths into your donor journey.

Create milestone-based triggers that invite donors to increase after their third gift, at their giving anniversary, or when they cross a cumulative threshold. Make the upgrade invitation feel like a natural next step.

Virtuous CRM+ lets you build these milestone-triggered workflows once, so the right invitation goes out at the right moment automatically.

Virtuous Momentum puts your CRM data directly in front of your gift officers, so they can see donor data and take action without switching tools.

Lahai Health grew from 4 major donors to 12 by using Virtuous CRM+ to build deeper, more personalized relationships with their supporters, driving 10% year-over-year annual growth from individual donors. Read the full story →

Metric 4: Recurring Giving

What It Is

Recurring giving measures how much of your revenue comes from donors who give on an ongoing, repeated basis. It gives you something rare in fundraising: predictable, repeatable revenue that doesn’t depend on seasonal spikes or one-time campaigns.

How We Calculated This Metric

Recurring Giving % of Revenue = All Gifts from Recurring Payment Plans + All Gifts from Donors Who Gave Between 6-12 Times During the Year / Total Revenue.

What changed this year: The definition was broadened to include both programmatic recurring gifts (monthly plans) and donors who give frequently enough to act like recurring supporters, even without a formal monthly plan in place.

The Benchmarks

Overall: 20.96% Top Quartile: 44%

Top Performers

Organizations in the top quartile generate 44% of their revenue from recurring giving. At that level, nearly half your revenue is predictable before the year even starts. That changes how you plan, how you budget, and how much pressure your team feels throughout the year.

Breaking Down the Data

Recurring giving as a share of revenue has stabilized after several years of steady growth. That likely reflects broader adoption of recurring programs across the sector, which is an encouraging sign. 

By revenue: The spread is surprisingly narrow, ranging from 18.56% ($5-10M) to 22.17% ($10M+). Recurring programs are reasonably well-distributed across the sector. The top quartile at 44% shows there’s still a lot of ceiling for most organizations to grow into.

By sector: Faith leads at 25.22%, driven by the natural rhythm of community-based pledges and monthly giving. Education sits lowest at 9.25%, reflecting a fundraising approach centered on major gifts rather than monthly commitments.

How This Connects to Other Metrics

• Gift Frequency: Convert your donors to recurring givers, and you’ll see your gift frequency increase. 
• Donor Retention: Higher frequency makes donors harder to lose, which strengthens retention.
• Lifetime Value: Recurring donors stay longer and give more consistently, which drives much higher LTV.

Next Best Steps

Here are 3 steps to build a stronger recurring giving program.

1. Make monthly giving the default, not the upgrade.

Present recurring giving as the primary option on your donation forms. Frame it around ongoing impact: “Give $40/month to provide clean water for a family all year.” When recurring is the first thing donors see, more of them choose it.

Virtuous Raise lets you design your forms with recurring front and center, with responsive ask arrays that suggest the right monthly amount for each donor.

2. Convert new donors to recurring within the first 60 days.

The window right after a first gift is when a donor is most open to deepening their commitment. Build a specific recurring ask into your new donor welcome series tied to tangible, ongoing impact.

3. Create a branded monthly giving community.

Give your recurring program a name, a visual identity, and its own communications track. Monthly donors should feel like insiders. Exclusive updates, behind-the-scenes content, and personal thank-you messages go a long way.

Recurring donors give four times longer than one-time donors and deliver predictable revenue, deeper engagement, and stronger lifetime value. This playbook gives you a proven framework to launch, grow, and optimize your recurring giving program. Download the playbook →

Metric 5: Portfolio Balance

What It Is

Portfolio balance shows you where your revenue actually comes from, broken down by donor tier: everyday donors (under $1K annually), mid-level ($1K to $9,999), and major ($10K+).

How We Calculated This Metric

Giving by Tier % = Amount of Giving in Each Tier / Total Giving. Segments are Everyday ($0.01-$999.99), Mid-level ($1,000-$9,999.99), and Major ($10,000+).

What changed this year: Portfolio balance now uses cumulative annual giving to assign donor tiers, not single gift amounts. A donor who gave twelve $100 gifts ($1,200 total) is counted as mid-level, not everyday.

The Benchmarks

Everyday Donors: 11.16% of revenue Mid-Level Donors: 21.75% of revenue Major Donors: 67.09% of revenue

Breaking Down the Data

Two-thirds of all donor revenue comes from major donors. That concentration is both a strength and a risk. 

When those relationships are strong and well-cultivated, major donors are the engine of your fundraising. But when even one or two steps back, the ripple can show up across your entire revenue picture. The more your organization depends on a small number of large gifts, the more vulnerable you are to year-over-year swings.

By revenue: Organizations under $1M and those over $10M actually have a wider base of everyday and mid-level giving than the other tiers. It’s the $1-10M range that shows the highest concentration of major donor dependence.

By sector: Education carries the most extreme concentration at 85.49% major donor revenue, which helps explain its high LTV but also its volatility in donor expansion. Faith has the most diversified base, with the highest everyday (11.50%) and mid-level (24.44%) contributions of any sector, most likely a reflection of high recurring giving across mid-level donors. 

How This Connects to Other Metrics

• Donor Expansion: When major donors represent two-thirds of revenue, a single lapsed relationship can show up as a dip in expansion. Education’s 68.09% is a direct example.
• Donor Retention: Organizations with stronger mid-level and everyday bases tend to see more stable retention and less year-over-year variance.
• Lifetime Value: Building out your mid-level program doesn’t just add revenue. It adds resilience to your entire fundraising model.

Next Best Steps

Here are 3 steps to build a more balanced donor portfolio.

1. Build a dedicated mid-level donor program.

Donors in the $1,000 to $9,999 range are often the most overlooked and highest-potential segment. Give them their own track with personal outreach, exclusive updates, and intentional upgrade paths. When mid-level donors feel seen, they stay longer and give more.

Virtuous Momentum helps your team manage more mid-level relationships by prioritizing daily outreach and keeping every donor moving forward.

2. Broaden where your donors come from.

A balanced portfolio starts with diverse channels. If most of your donors come from one source, your revenue is more fragile than it looks. Invest across digital, direct mail, events, peer-to-peer, and volunteer-to-donor pathways.

Virtuous Volunteer makes it easy for supporters to get involved through a custom-branded volunteer hub, self-signup, mobile app access, and automated reminders that keep them engaged and coming back.

3. Monitor your portfolio health over time.

Track the percentage of revenue coming from each donor tier quarterly. If your top 10 donors represent more than half of total revenue, that’s a concentration risk worth paying attention to.

Virtuous Analytics shows portfolio distribution at a glance, so you can spot imbalances early.

Mid-level donors may only represent 1-5% of your supporter base, but they often contribute up to half of total revenue. This playbook gives you a practical framework for identifying, engaging, and retaining this critical group. Download the playbook →

Metric 6: New Donor Acquisition

What It Is

New donor acquisition measures what percentage of your active donor base gave their first gift this year. Retention may be more cost-effective, but acquisition is how you grow.

How We Calculated This Metric

New Donor % = Total Donors Who Gave Their First Gift in the Trailing 12 Months / Total Active Donors.

The Benchmarks

Overall: 32.06%

Breaking Down the Data

Acquisition was essentially flat. In the context of rising acquisition costs, holding steady is a reasonable outcome. But this number needs to be read carefully. A higher acquisition percentage doesn’t always mean your outreach is working better. It can also mean you’re losing more existing donors and replacing them with new ones.

By revenue: Smaller organizations have the highest acquisition rates, with under $1M at 39.44%. That makes sense since they’re earlier in their growth and more dependent on new donors to build their base. Larger organizations with stronger retention can sustain revenue with a lower percentage of new donors.

By sector: Education spiked to 59.32%, the highest of any sector. But paired with 45.39% retention and 14.28% second-gift conversion, that number reflects a shrinking retained base more than a successful acquisition strategy. Faith has the lowest rate at 25.54%, which is actually healthy when you’re retaining 61.29% of donors year over year.

How This Connects to Other Metrics

• Donor Retention: Strong retention means you need less acquisition to grow. Weak retention means acquisition is just replacing what you lost.
• 1st to 2nd Gift Conversion: High acquisition with low conversion means you’re filling a leaking bucket.
• Lifetime Value: Channel quality matters. A more expensive donor who stays five years is worth far more than a cheap one who never returns.

Next Best Steps

Here are 3 steps to acquire new donors more strategically.

1. Build relationships before the first ask.

The strongest new donors come from people who already know your work. Newsletter signups, content downloads, event registrations, and volunteer experiences all create warm connections that make the first gift feel like a natural extension of that connection.

Virtuous CRM+ gives your team a 360° view of every supporter. Giving, engagement, event attendance, volunteerism, and web activity all live in one record, so when someone is ready to give their first gift, your team already knows the whole story.

2. Track your cost per new donor by channel.

Different channels produce donors with very different retention profiles and lifetime values. Know what you’re spending per new donor across digital, direct mail, events, and peer-to-peer, and track how those donors behave after their first gift.

Virtuous Analytics includes a pre-built Donor Acquisition Dashboard so you can see acquisition performance at a glance, and customize it by channel, campaign, or segment as your strategy evolves. 

3. Optimize for retention, not volume.

The cheapest donors aren’t always the best donors. Focus on the channels where second-gift rates and long-term retention are strongest, even if the upfront cost is higher.

Virtuous Analytics lets you compare which channels produce your highest-value donors over time with side-by-side acquisition reporting: 

• Median of days between first and second gift by channel
• First-to-second gift conversion by channel

 All so you can double down on what’s actually working.

Year-end is when most new donor acquisition happens. This playbook gives you donor insights and actionable strategies to make it your most successful fundraising season yet. Download the playbook →

Metric 7: Donor Lifetime Value

What It Is

Donor Lifetime Value estimates the total revenue a donor will contribute over the course of their relationship with your organization, factoring in gift size, frequency, and retention over time.

How We Calculated This Metric

LTV = 5-year cohort-based model factoring in donor retention, growth rate, and donor value. Donors whose first gift exceeded $10K are excluded, but their subsequent $10K+ gifts are included.

Excluding first gifts over $10K removes major gift outliers from the baseline. But when a $500 donor grows into a $15,000 giver over time, that’s great stewardship at work. Keeping those later gifts in shows the true potential of your everyday donors.

What changed this year: LTV was refined to use a cohort-based model that more accurately captures how donor value compounds over time.

The Benchmarks

Overall: $2,234.30

Breaking Down the Data

LTV grew nearly 18% this year. That’s one of the strongest signals in the entire report.

This didn’t happen because of any single metric improving dramatically. It happened because several metrics moved in the right direction at the same time. Retention held steady. Gift frequency ticked up. Average and median gift both climbed. When all of those small improvements stack up across a five-year relationship, the result is a real jump in what each donor is worth to your organization.

By revenue: $1-5M organizations lead at $2,545.64, followed closely by under $1M at $2,395.79. $5-10M organizations sit lowest at $1,854.43. LTV doesn’t scale neatly with organization size here, which suggests that mid-sized organizations in particular may have room to improve how they cultivate and retain donors over time.

By sector: Education leads at $4,165.66, but with declining retention and 68.09% donor expansion, that high LTV is being generated by a shrinking group of deeply committed donors. Human Services ($2,437.09) and Faith ($2,383.34) are close behind with more balanced fundamentals. Healthcare is lowest at $1,868.68, reflecting the difficulty of turning one-time gifts into lasting relationships.

How This Connects to Other Metrics

• Donor Retention: One of the largest inputs to LTV. Even small retention improvements compound over time in ways that add up fast.
• Gift Frequency: More gifts per year means more revenue per donor per year, which multiplies across the full relationship.
• Gift Amounts: Higher average and median gifts amplify the value of every transaction within the LTV calculation.
• Donor Expansion: When retained donors grow their giving year over year, LTV accelerates beyond what any single metric would predict.

Next Best Steps

Here are 4 steps to grow the lifetime value of your donors.

1. Focus on retention first.

LTV is a compounding metric. A donor who stays for five years at $100 per gift is worth far more than one who gives $500 once. Every percentage point of retention improvement ripples through your LTV calculation for years.

Virtuous CRM+ can power automated stewardship workflows that keep donors engaged year over year.

2. Track LTV trends by segment, not overall.

Your LTV for recurring donors, mid-level donors, and event-acquired donors are very different numbers. Tracking them separately shows you where to invest and where your donor journey is breaking down.

Virtuous Analytics can break down LTV by donor segment, so you’re making decisions based on where value actually lives.

3. Introduce planned giving to your highest-LTV donors.

For donors with deep loyalty and long tenure, a planned giving conversation can multiply their lifetime impact by orders of magnitude. These donors have already shown sustained commitment. Inviting them into a legacy giving program honors that relationship and opens a door most organizations never knock on.

Virtuous Insights includes a predictive planned giving model that automatically identifies your most likely planned gift prospects based on engagement, wealth, and life-stage indicators, so you know exactly who to invite into the conversation.

4. Build upgrade paths into your donor journey.

Use milestone moments (gift anniversaries, cumulative thresholds, year-end) to invite donors to increase their giving gradually. The ask should feel like recognition of their commitment, not pressure to do more.

Using Virtuous Momentum, Radford University automated personal outreach for every birthday, first gift, and anniversary across an 800+ young alumni portfolio, cutting Giving Day outreach from 12 hours to 2 while driving 2,700 actions and 24 gifts. Read the full story.

Closing Thoughts: Understanding the Bigger Picture of the Metrics

Retention is flat. Conversion dropped. On the surface, that looks like a sector that’s stalling. But LTV jumped 18%, gift size grew, and frequency ticked up. How does that math work?

It works because the sector is growing in depth, not breadth. Fewer new donors are sticking around, but the ones who do are more engaged, more generous, and more consistent. Here’s how the pieces connect.

[DESIGN NOTE: The following section is intended to be designed as a visual/graphic showing the flow and connections between metrics.]

Donor Retention is the foundation. If donors aren’t coming back, every other metric has to work harder.

1st to 2nd Gift Conversion starts the engine. No second gift, no retained donor.

Days Between 1st and 2nd Gift measures the speed. Faster second gifts mean stronger long-term relationships.

Gift Frequency protects retention. Donors who give more often are much harder to lose.

Gift Amounts multiply every interaction. Higher gifts mean more value from every retained donor.

Recurring Giving accelerates the whole cycle. Monthly donors lift frequency, strengthen retention, and extend relationships.

Donor Expansion is the proof. Retained donors are giving more each year.

New Donor Acquisition keeps the pipeline alive. No one retains 100%. The question is whether new donors stick around.

Donor Lifetime Value is the compound result. Small gains across multiple metrics add up to big growth over time.

Portfolio Balance determines resilience. A more diversified base makes everything more stable.

The bottom line: the organizations seeing the strongest results aren’t perfecting one metric. They’re making small improvements across several areas and letting those gains build on each other. Start wherever your biggest gap is.

The Metrics Map

Use this as your quick-reference guide. Find the metric where you have the most room to grow, follow the recommended steps, and see which Virtuous products can help you get there.

Now I have the full picture. Here’s the updated Metrics Map with all changes applied — matching the exact next best steps and product mentions from the report, with colons instead of parentheses, all products named as “Virtuous ___”, and demo links:

The Metrics Map

Use this as your quick-reference guide. Find the metric where you have the most room to grow, follow the recommended steps, and see which Virtuous products can help you get there.

Metric	Next Steps	How Virtuous Helps
Donor Retention	1. Identify donors about to lapse before they disappear 2. Make personal stewardship a system 3. Build automated touchpoints between asks	Virtuous CRM+ surfaces early disengagement signals with Virtuous Insights Virtuous Momentum builds donor bios, drafts engagement plans, creates touchpoints Virtuous CRM+: milestone-triggered stewardship workflows
1st to 2nd Gift Conversion	1. Build a dedicated new donor welcome series 2. Get to new donors fast with personal outreach 3. Make the second ask feel different	Virtuous CRM+: welcome series automation with sequenced follow-up Virtuous Momentum surfaces new donors needing personal outreach
Days Between 1st and 2nd Gift	1. Set a speed benchmark and track it 2. Compress your follow-up timeline 3. Treat every new donor like a major donor	Virtuous Analytics: pre-built days-to-second-gift dashboard Virtuous Momentum: instant new gift notifications with AI-drafted follow-up Virtuous Insights: new donor scoring by wealth, capacity, and connection
Gift Frequency	1. Create more giving moments outside major campaigns 2. Use recurring giving as a frequency accelerator 3. Layer in meaningful touchpoints between appeals	Virtuous Raise: dynamic widgets to embed giving opportunities anywhere on your site Virtuous Raise: built-in recurring gift prompt with personalized amounts
Average Gift Amount	1. Anchor your ask amounts higher 2. Segment your upgrade asks by giving history	Virtuous Raise: responsive ask arrays that adapt to each donor’s history Virtuous Insights: Enhanced Ask Strategies with One-Time, Recurring, and Direct Response views
Median Gift Amount	1. Focus upgrade efforts on the broad middle of your donor file 2. Make the upgrade feel personal	Virtuous Raise: built-in A/B testing for donation pages Virtuous CRM+: segmented upgrade workflows with personalized content
Average Online Gift	1. Remove friction from the giving experience 2. Build context around the giving moment 3. Test different ask amounts	Virtuous Raise: mobile wallets, dynamic widgets, and responsive ask arrays
Donor Expansion	1. Find donors giving below their potential 2. Build intentional upgrade paths 3. Equip gift officers to act in real time	Virtuous Insights: predictive likelihood indicators for upgrading, recurring, lapsing, and major gift potential Virtuous CRM+: milestone-triggered upgrade workflows Virtuous Momentum: CRM data directly in front of gift officers
Recurring Giving	1. Make monthly giving the default 2. Convert new donors to recurring within 60 days 3. Create a branded monthly giving community	Virtuous Raise: recurring-first forms with responsive ask arrays
Portfolio Balance	1. Build a dedicated mid-level donor program 2. Broaden where your donors come from 3. Monitor portfolio health over time	Virtuous Momentum: prioritized daily outreach for mid-level donors Virtuous Volunteer: custom-branded volunteer hub with self-signup and mobile access Virtuous Analytics: portfolio distribution dashboards
New Donor Acquisition	1. Build relationships before the first ask 2. Track cost per new donor by channel 3. Optimize for retention, not volume	Virtuous CRM+: 360° supporter view across giving, engagement, events, and web activity Virtuous Analytics: pre-built Donor Acquisition Dashboard by channel and segment Virtuous Analytics: side-by-side acquisition reporting for channel comparison
Donor Lifetime Value	1. Focus on retention first 2. Track LTV trends by segment 3. Introduce planned giving to highest-LTV donors 4. Build upgrade paths into your donor journey	Virtuous CRM+: automated stewardship workflows Virtuous Analytics: LTV dashboards by donor segment Virtuous Insights: predictive planned giving model based on engagement, wealth, and life-stage

See Where You Stand: Take the Health Check

Don’t guess at which metric needs the most attention. Plug in your numbers and find out.

The Benchmark Health Check gives you a personalized snapshot of how your organization compares across key metrics, with specific guidance on where to focus next.

[Take the Health Check →]

Share This With Your Board

We’ve created a companion board deck that distills the key findings from this report into visual, easy-to-share slides designed for nonprofit leadership. Whether you’re reporting on fundraising trends, donor retention, or growth opportunities, this deck gives you the language and data to tell a clear story.

[Download the Board-Ready Summary →]