Your donors give to 5 orgs. Are you one of them?

Are donors pulling back? 

The latest M+R Benchmarks report suggests no — email revenue was up 16% in 2025 and response rates held steady. 

But revenue trends don’t always tell you what donors are actually thinking when they decide where to give.

Lautman Maska Neill & Co and LJR Custom Strategies phone-surveyed roughly 580 donors across six U.S. nonprofits in early February, spanning advocacy, relief, conservation, health, human services, and faith-based giving. 

The results, shared in a recent webinar, have real implications for anyone writing fundraising emails right now.

Donors are choosing from a very short list
The average donor gives to about five organizations. A third said they give to just one. And 91% said they don’t plan to add more in 2026.

Every email you send is quietly earning or losing your spot on that list. 

Your impact updates and cultivation touches are doing more work than you might realize.

Donors who’ve been with an organization since before 2020 give to far more groups (7.2 orgs on average versus 3.01 for those acquired since 2025). 

TL;DR: Longstanding relationships are worth protecting.

When donors cut back, the economy is driving it
Among donors who planned to give less in 2026, 48% cited affordability and 28% pointed to economic uncertainty. 

Only 2% said their trust in nonprofits had declined. I find this genuinely encouraging. 

If your donors are feeling financial pressure, guilt-driven copy and panic framing may be working against you. 

Donors still want to give. Meeting them where they are emotionally is more likely to keep them on your file.

Lead with the people you help
When asked what matters most in choosing which nonprofit to support, 98% mentioned who the organization serves — feeding the hungry or serving disaster-hit communities.

Only 29% mentioned organizational qualities like transparency or efficiency.

The story of real impact will almost always outperform a message about how well your organization is run.

Your volunteers are your most generous supporters
46% of respondents volunteer, and those volunteers were significantly more generous — 77% donate to 11 or more organizations. 

That tracks: people who’ve seen your work firsthand have a personal stake in it. They know exactly where their money goes.

If your email program can connect donors to volunteer opportunities, you’re giving them a reason to give more, not less.

How to apply this to your program
Audit your stewardship cadence. If your campaign arcs go straight from acquisition to ask to ask to ask, build in at least one touchpoint that shows donors what their last gift accomplished. 

Watch your tone. Try rewriting your next CTA to emphasize what the donor makes possible rather than what happens if they don’t give.

Center your emails on the people you serve. Tell those stories first, tell them often, and save the operational updates for your annual report.

Invite supporters to volunteer. Your most generous donors are already volunteering. Give the rest of your list a way to engage beyond the donation page.

The bottom line
Email revenue is growing. This survey tells us why it might not stay that way if we’re not careful.

Donors are being picky with a short list, and when they pull back, it’s because of their wallets, not because of you. 

That’s good news! It means the relationship is still there. Your job is to keep it.

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

‘Til next time!
Sara