Giving USA 2026: what emailers should know

In April, M+R’s 2026 Benchmarks report showed that email revenue was up 16% and per-subscriber value climbed from $1.87 to $2.40.

Giving USA’s 2026 report fills in the picture underneath those numbers, and some of what it found could change how you plan the rest of the year.

Total charitable giving hit $617.20 billion in 2025, up 5.7% in current dollars and 3.0% adjusted for inflation.

But I think where that money is coming from and which sectors are capturing it matter more than the topline.

Bequests are surging, and most email programs aren’t part of the conversation
Bequest giving (gifts made as part of a will or trust) grew 16.6% inflation-adjusted in 2025, reaching $62.19 billion. 

That’s the fastest growth of any giving source in the report. And I think it matters for email teams.

Planned giving and digital fundraising teams don’t always overlap, but I’d bet that the donors most likely to leave a bequest are often the ones who’ve been on your email list for years, giving steadily and taking action on petitions or surveys.

Even a single annual email introducing your legacy program to those long-tenured donors is already more than most organizations are doing right now.

Not all giving is growing equally
Giving USA breaks out growth by subsector, and the gaps are significant.

Environment and animals grew 8.2% inflation-adjusted, the strongest subsector growth in the report. Public-society benefit grew 8.7%.

On the other end, religion was essentially flat at -0.2%, and international affairs grew just 1.4%.

If you work in a high-growth subsector, donor dollars are flowing your way — and this is the moment to invest in acquisition and list growth before the tailwind shifts. 

If your subsector is growing slowly, every email might have to work harder. That’s when smart segmentation can have a competitive edge.

Corporate giving flatlined, and your match strategy should know
Corporate giving grew 0.5% inflation-adjusted. Effectively zero.

Genuine match offers are still one of the strongest urgency drivers in email. But the pool of corporate match dollars isn’t expanding, which means locking in your match partners earlier matters more this year.

If you’re waiting until October to confirm year-end match funding, you’re leaving your calendar vulnerable.

What to do with this
Segment your year-end appeals by donor tenure and behavior. You can’t afford to treat a first-time donor the same as someone who’s given every December for five years. 

Equimundo started sending to a 50% smaller list and drove 31% more clicks by stopping the practice of sending everything to everyone. 

Your long-tenured donors and donors that came in through a 2026 rapid response campaign all need different asks this year-end.

Put planned giving on your email calendar. You don’t need a full legacy program to start. 

One cultivation email per year to your longest-tenured, most consistent donors, introducing the idea makes a difference. 

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology built a $4M program by treating every giving channel as infrastructure worth investing in, and bequest cultivation through email fits that same approach.

Confirm match funding now. With corporate budgets flat, the organizations that secure corporate or individual donor match commitments in Q3 NOW will have a real planning advantage heading into year-end.

The bottom line
Your email program doesn’t exist in a vacuum. 

Bequest dollars are growing fast, corporate match budgets aren’t, and your subsector’s growth rate is shaping donor behavior whether you’re tracking it or not. 

If your planning only accounts for one of these reports, it’s missing half the picture.

Check our events list for more or reply to this email to submit one for consideration.

‘Til next time!
Sara