Rebuilding the Base: Confronting the Cracks in the Future of Fundraising
Chapter Leadership Brief 6.27.25
by Anton Lipkanou
President and Partner, Delve Deeper
A Tipping Point for Digital Fundraising
The nonprofit sector is quietly approaching a cliff. While fundraising headlines often focus on major gifts, high-profile campaigns, or new digital tools, a more foundational crisis is unfolding just below the surface: the gradual collapse of the donor pyramid. Individual giving, which has historically been the bedrock of nonprofit revenue, is weakening at its foundation.
The Donor Demographic Shift
The numbers are sobering. Mass donors, defined as those giving under $500 per year, make up 87% of all individual donors. Yet they generate just 7.6% of annual revenue. Historically, that imbalance wasn’t a concern because a small percentage of Mass donors eventually “graduated” to higher giving tiers. But most charities have no infrastructure to track that progression, let alone actively cultivate it.
Meanwhile, Baby Boomers still account for the majority of donor revenue, but their engagement is plateauing. Gen X is not filling the gap fast enough, and Gen Z and Millennials, despite being cause-oriented and digitally savvy, remain dramatically underrepresented in most donor files.
Why? Because the traditional models that worked for older donors simply don’t resonate with younger ones.
The Problem with Business as Usual
The report highlights a troubling pattern: media platforms, like Meta, Google, and programmatic display, tend to favor older audiences because those groups have historically given more. This creates a feedback loop: algorithms prioritize Boomers, nonprofits build creative around them, and younger donors remain invisible.
Worse still, most digital programs lack the ability to personalize content for different age groups or cause affinities. This is especially damaging when trying to connect with Millennials and Gen Z, who expect relevance, authenticity, and a clear emotional tie to the cause. Generic fundraising appeals won’t cut it.
Recurring Giving: The Overlooked Powerhouse
One of the most promising insights from the report is the transformative potential of recurring giving. Recurring donors are 7.5 times more valuable over their lifetime than one-time donors. And the data shows that Millennials are 2.4 times more likely than Boomers to become monthly givers, while Gen Z is starting to follow a similar path.
Despite this, many charities focus on acquisition volume rather than retention or upgrade strategies. The missed opportunity is massive. By focusing on monthly giving as a key conversion goal, not just a secondary ask, organizations can increase donor lifetime value, reduce churn, and build more predictable revenue pipelines.
The Creative Imperative
Another emerging trend: volume and variety of creative matter more than ever. Donors today interact with brands and causes across a fragmented digital ecosystem. That means a single, polished year-end video or general appeal email isn’t enough.
What works is high-frequency, emotionally resonant creative that reflects the values and motivations of different audience segments. Think raw video, mobile-first ads, A/B tested headlines, and localized storytelling, all personalized for specific demographics or interests. The report emphasizes the need to invest in creative velocity, not just creative quality, to break through in an attention-scarce environment.
Fixing the Internal Fractures
The most important takeaway: cross-functional team alignment is non-negotiable. Without it, even the best creative and media strategy will fall flat. When fundraising, digital, and comms operate in silos, it’s impossible to track donor journeys, align on goals, or build lasting strategies.
A Call to Rebuild the Base
This means:
- Shifting your media mix to favor younger, cause-first audiences.
- Prioritizing recurring giving as a core strategy, not a sidecar.
- Producing creative that speaks to micro-affinities and values, not just demographics.
- Breaking down silos between fundraising, digital, and brand to align goals and resources.
The road ahead won’t be easy. But the organizations that confront these structural realities head-on, and make bold, integrated changes, will be the ones that thrive.
Conclusion
The future of fundraising doesn’t lie in any one channel or platform. It lies in the ability of nonprofits to adapt to shifting donor behavior, embrace new models of engagement, and rebuild the base of their support systems.
Anton Lipkanou is President and Partner at a performance media agency, Delve Deeper, which focuses on driving exceptional value for non-profit and for-profit organizations with a lifetime value revenue model. Starting as a media trader and seeing the inefficiencies in the market, Anton developed a firm belief that strong media performance relies on the foundation of data and technology integration to close the donor data gaps from mass donors to major givers, sprinkled with a relentless obsession to test every dimension in media buying platforms.