The Girl Scouts Heart of New Jersey Leadership Center hosted fundraisers from across the state gathered for a critical look at the state of philanthropy. This year’s AFP-NJ Whitley Lecture, featuring Nathan Hill and Erik Tomalis of Avid, unpacked real-time insights from their AI benchmarking universe of 1,000+ organizations to show exactly how philanthropy has shifted over the last four years.
The data was sobering but also revealed a path forward. While fundraising revenue has grown by 5.6% since 2022, it is failing to keep pace with an 11.7% inflation rate, leaving many organizations running faster just to stay in place. However, the data also revealed the tactics that organizations are using to beat the odds and outperform their counterparts.
This "leaky bucket" syndrome (that fundraisers are all too familiar with) was at the core of the morning’s discussion. Avid’s data revealed that the total number of donors is falling, with mid-level and major donors forced to carry an increasingly heavy load. But while we are seeing the trend of fewer people giving larger gifts, the number of donors upgrading to those higher tiers is falling dramatically. Meanwhile, it is becoming progressively harder to reactivate donors (especially those acquired through offline methods), but there has been an uptick in new donor acquisition. This increase is driven in large part by two sectors, namely arts/culture/humanities and public policy/advocacy.
Despite these sobering trends, Avid’s benchmarking highlighted specific areas where nonprofits can find success:
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The Rise of Online Acquisition: For the first time, online donor acquisition has eclipsed offline methods. The speakers emphasized that because the entry point for donors has fundamentally changed, our investment strategies must shift accordingly.
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The Multichannel Advantage: Donors who are engaged across multiple channels (email, postal, and phone) not only give more on average but are significantly more likely to upgrade their support.
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The Recurring Gift Gold Mine: Recurring donors are nearly three times as valuable as one-time donors ($350 vs. $127) and have an impressive retention rate (87.1% vs. 49.3%). Yet many organizations still lack a clear "Donate Monthly" call to action.
Beyond the data, the true value of the morning was in the dialogue that was created. Hands stayed up throughout the talk, sparking a robust discussion that allowed attendees to learn from each other and gain additional insight. It was a perfect example of why the AFP-NJ community is so vital, providing a space for fundraisers to network, share ideas, and support one another as we navigate these technological and economic shifts together.
A heartfelt thank you to the Girl Scouts Heart of New Jersey for hosting us in their beautiful Newark Leadership Center. We also want to thank the AFP-NJ Professional Development Committee and Chair Daphne Halpern for putting together such a timely and impactful program. Most importantly, thank you to all the attendees whose questions and energy made this year’s Whitley Lecture a standout success.
Written by Jeanette Corris
Posted 4/10/26