It’s no news that times are tough in the fundraising world. In the face of the uncertainty and injustice playing out across our sector, we want to provide some perspective on what *is* going well or even growing right now, and how to make the best use of your fundraising time and resources. The core message we want to get across is one of opportunity amid uncertainty: while economic pressures may dampen small-dollar giving, significant philanthropic resources remain accessible – especially through strategic outreach and smart fundraising practices.
First, while overall giving may well decline during economic slowdowns (although historically only by 3–7%), fundraisers can outperform those margins through effort and strategy. Some see foundation fundraising as entering a “moment,” with many private foundations increasing their grantmaking despite minor declines in asset value.
Larger foundations like MacArthur, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are standout examples of expanding giving portfolios. This trend is not restricted to the big players only, and we are seeing some smaller and regional foundations heed the call, too. Nonprofits are encouraged to use the tools at their disposal – be they AI-assisted platforms, internal grant writers, or consultant partners like Page Consulting – to increase efficiency in grant prospecting and application writing. We caution anyone using AI, however, to always ensure full human review and alignment with your mission. AI hallucinations, spurious references, and other quality control issues are on the rise, and foundation funders are quickly losing patience with such mistakes.
While our team specializes in foundation fundraising (it’s what we know and love the most!), we want to make sure our clients and partners are aware that donor-advised funds (DAFs) may be one of the most underutilized – yet promising – vehicles for fundraising in this economic climate. Why are DAFs a good area to focus on right now? Simply put, DAF assets are “pre-given” and essentially immune to short-term financial pressures, making them a stable and strategic area to focus your asks. With over $230 billion in already-committed philanthropic capital sitting in DAFs, organizations should adopt strategies like:
- Explicitly incorporate DAF prompts into emails, direct mail, and donation pages.
- Include gentle scripts for major donor conversations.
- Ensure that DAF giving links are visible on all core digital materials, not buried in secondary “ways to give” sections.
Lastly, and most frequently overlooked by many nonprofits worried about short-term cash flow, planned giving (that is, legacy planning for charitable giving, often arranged in advance through a donor’s will, trust, or other estate planning documents) is perhaps the most inflation-resistant and demographically inevitable form of philanthropy, due in no small part to the ongoing $124 trillion intergenerational wealth transfer. Furthermore, and to be blunt, mortality is predictable in a way that the markets never will be.
But how to approach it? While there are specialist consultants who can help target your planned giving strategy, some changes you can make right now include integrating bequest messaging across donor communications so that donors are aware of your openness to discussing these kinds of requests. And efforts put into building strong planned giving programs now are likely to result in your organization being more resilient in future downturns.
Taken together, even with the confusion and turmoil nonprofits are facing now, the key elements of a path forward are clear:
- Sustain a foundation fundraising strategy (or get started on one if you haven’t already).
- Double down on high-capacity donors.
- Make DAFs and asset-based giving routine asks.
- Invest in scalable tools and strategies that support institutional fundraising at a time when it’s more crucial than ever.
Many of these observations come from our work directly with our clients, but we would also like to give a shout out to Patrick Schmitt, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of FreeWill (a planned giving platform), who summarized much of this information on a recent webinar produced by Bain Capital for their Children’s Charity grantees.