The Status of Fundraising 2025: Global Research Insights on Fundraising in the AI Era
In today’s challenging economic and political environment, the social impact sector is facing increasing pressures related to finances, resources, and tools. Furthermore, nonprofits are currently navigating an era of rapid technological advancements through artificial intelligence.
Our annual Status of Fundraising study was conducted in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia/New Zealand (ANZ). These regional reports explore the changing landscape of nonprofit fundraising in each area and offer a thorough overview of the social impact sector in 2025, aiding nonprofits and education providers to evaluate their performance in the AI era.
This article presents insights from over 1700 participants worldwide regarding their recent performance, prevailing challenges, current fundraising strategies and opportunities, data health, and attitudes and usage of artificial intelligence (AI).
Although the findings are not fully comparable due to regional sample differences, they provide valuable insights into trends affecting the global social impact sector.
Income is performing positively despite the challenging economic backdrop
When asked to think about their performance in the last full financial year, global performance is trending positively. In each region, more participants shared that their income has increased or remained static in the last full financial year than declined, and most also either met or exceeded their fundraising targets.
Drivers of growth are also similar across regions, and it’s evident that exceptional gifts are essential for sustainable revenue. While exceptional gifts are ranked as the number one driver of growth globally, higher giving values, new and different activities, and increased donor numbers are also important. In the US, participants also attribute their growth to adequately resourced teams, and participants in Australia/New Zealand found a focus on supporter experience to drive growth.
When focusing on those who saw their income decline over the last financial year, many attributed their decline to the wider macroeconomic environment. In fact, this is the primary reason in the UK, Canada, and Australia/New Zealand, whereas participants in the US shared that inadequate resourcing played a key role behind the decline, with the current economic environment ranking second.
In line with these findings, when asked about current fundraising challenges, participants across each region shared that the economic situation—and subsequent fewer donations—is the biggest challenge nonprofits are facing now and over the next three years. Rising operational costs are also a bigger worry than in previous years.
Government grants are an important source of revenue for nonprofits, but many could benefit from income stream diversification
Government grants are a key income source for nonprofits in each region surveyed. While government grants are a vital source for many, one-fourth or more participants in each region say they don’t raise money from government grants. Donations—whether large or small— from individuals are also essential sources of revenue, and only a handful of respondents say they don’t raise money through these sources.
Key income streams per region:
| The United States | The United Kingdom | Canada | Australia/New Zealand |
| Government grantsMajor donorsIndividual giving | Government grantsFoundation GrantsLegacies | Government grantsMajor donorsIndividual giving | Government grantsLegaciesMajor donors |
When exploring how the contribution of these income streams has changed over the last three years, we could identify interesting differences between those who reported an income decline and those that are growing. For example, in Canada, those in decline report the most significant declines from individual donations. In turn, most of those growing share that major gifts and individual donations now contribute more to their income than three years ago. This kind of trend is evident globally. Another globally evident trend is the more limited growth of government grants as a revenue source for those who shared their income increased. In fact, growing nonprofits in the UK say that government grants now contribute less to their income. US participants responded to federal funding freezes in early 2025; with research showing that it’s possible to experience revenue growth even while government grant support decreased (as it did for a fifth of participants whose income grew), but very rare to grow revenue while reducing major donor or foundation support.
These findings highlight the importance of income stream diversification with individual giving at the forefront, as government grants are subject to policy changes and fluctuations.
In North America, digital maturity drives growth
A digitally mature nonprofit is one where technologies are integrated across all areas, including fundraising, supporter experience, internal processes, and more. We asked participants to place their nonprofit on a digital maturity spectrum, ranging from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest).
Individuals in North America rank their nonprofits as the most digitally mature:
In regions where we have conducted the Status of Fundraising research before—including the UK, Canada, and Australia/New Zealand—nonprofits rank their digital maturity lower than a few years ago. While digital disruption has always shaped the sector, it’s likely that the increasing prevalence of AI is impacting how nonprofits rate their current digital maturity.
In North America, those with above-average digital maturity scores are more likely to say their income increased in the last full financial year. These nonprofits use their technology more efficiently—they are more likely to say they get the most out of their donor management system—helping them harness digital opportunities that drive growth.
AI use is increasing, but policy development lags behind
Over the last few years, AI has made its way into the nonprofit sector, and the vast majority of participants in each region shared that they use AI. This increase from last year is significant—in 2024, 57% of participants in the UK said they use AI, and 67% said the same in Canada and Australia/New Zealand.
Natural language processing (NLP), generative AI, and predictive AI are the types most used in the nonprofit sector, but generative AI dominates usage. In fact, the vast majority share that they use generative AI to draft copy for social media, reports, e-blasts, annual reports, and more. Those who use AI are using it for an average of two functions in their workflows, and most participants say they now use generative AI more than a year ago.
Predictive AI use is still more limited globally. In fact, only 11% of participants in the US and UK share that they currently use it to predict donor behavior. 16% of participants in Australia/New Zealand say this, and only 9% in Canada. 24% of US respondents use AI tools for prospecting, with large nonprofits or education providers more likely to take advantage of this technology. Those who do use AI for prospecting in this region are also more likely to experience revenue growth. Large nonprofits are twice as likely to use predictive AI to understand donor behavior, a use case that is also more prevalent in those with above-average digital maturity. These findings suggest that predictive AI holds immense untapped potential for nonprofits, enabling precise analysis of donor behavior, enhanced resource allocation, and tailored engagements that could significantly enhance fundraising and operational impact.
While AI use is increasing in the sector and attitudes are generally positive, many participants share that they have concerns about the technology. Inaccurate output, misinformation, and data security are the top three concerns in each region. Despite nearly all participants having concerns related to AI use in their nonprofit and within the sector, only a handful share that they have an AI policy in place—at 14% in the US, 16% in the UK and Australia/New Zealand, and 11% in Canada. While these figures are relatively low, policy development has doubled from last year, indicating a positive trend even if policy development should be accelerated to match consistently increasing AI use.
Global Takeaways on Fundraising in 2025
It’s evident that the global political and economic situation is challenging nonprofits across the world. Despite this, most achieved their fundraising targets and either maintained or grew their voluntary income. Moreover, there is immense potential in digital transformation. Those who leverage technology effectively are not only meeting evolving donor and prospect expectations but are also paving the way for future advancements in giving.
AI has moved beyond experimental stages and is now used to advance strategies within the nonprofit sector. The potential of AI to enhance fundraising, donor management, and overall efficiency is immense. As nonprofits continue to explore and integrate AI, these technologies will likely become indispensable tools for driving growth and innovation.
Despite the substantial benefits, the sector still has significant concerns over AI’s accuracy, potential misinformation, and data security. Addressing these issues through robust AI policies, which are slowly being adopted, will be crucial for ethical and responsible use of AI. Many seek further sector-wide discussions on AI applications and limitations that are relevant to fundraising and hope for industry bodies and technology vendors to provide resources to get them started using AI more effectively.
Here at Blackbaud, we are making AI more accessible for the social impact sector by offering purpose-built nonprofit AI solutions, accelerating the availability of AI-driven partner solutions, and providing education and training to equip our customers with the skills they need to successfully adopt new AI tools through our Intelligence for Good® strategy.
Eager to learn more? Download each regional Status of Fundraising 2025 report for free to explore these findings in more detail. Available reports:
