Donor Retention Statistics (2026): Retention Rates, First-Time Donor Gaps & Recurring Giving

Donor retention is the quiet engine of nonprofit fundraising, and the latest benchmarks show the engine is slipping. Total charitable dollars raised grew by an estimated 5.0% (±0.5%) in 2025 compared to 2024 , yet the number of donors declined by 3.6% (±0.5%), continuing a downward trend that began in 2021. This report pulls together the sector's retention benchmarks, the first-time donor problem, the recurring-giving advantage and the broader giving context for nonprofit and church leaders. It is part of our statistics series, and the closest companion piece is our Monthly Giving Statistics (2026) analysis.

Key takeaways

Overall retention: flat, not yet recovering

The FEP's headline measure is simple. It measures the percent of all donors who gave to an organization in 2024 who gave again in 2025. On that basis, overall retention edged up from 43.1% to 43.3%, with repeat donor retention improving. That is a rounding-level move. The FEP itself describes the donor count trend as not a recovery, but it may be an inflection , which is a useful way to read it.

The sector is also slightly less diverse than it used to be. Donor counts fell an estimated -3.6% (±0.5%) in 2025, extending a streak that began in 2021. The same FEP release notes that the rate of decline has been slowing since 2022. A slower decline is good news, but a smaller donor pool is harder to keep.

The first-time donor problem

Most of the retention gap sits with new donors. New donor retention, however, remained essentially flat — unchanged at best, negligibly negative at worst , according to the FEP's Q4 2025 release. A breakdown by prior giving history shows how steep the drop is. First-time donors are retained at 18.9%, while donors with seven or more gifts are retained at 87.4% (Fundraising Effectiveness Project). Earlier FEP benchmarks put new-donor retention slightly higher, and the Fundraising Effectiveness Project found that repeat donor retention was 69.2% in 2024, which is significantly higher than the new donor retention rate of only 19.4%. The two figures differ by year and by method, so use the trend rather than a single number.

Academic work on a large crowdfunding platform reached a similar conclusion. In one study, 74% of donors make exactly one donation and never return, 14% return for a second donation . The same researchers observed that the donor retention for first-time donors fell from about 35% in 2009 to under 25% in 2013. That is a single platform, not the national sector, but the pattern matches the FEP trend.

Recurring giving: the retention advantage

Monthly and sustainer giving changes the math. Neon One's 2026 Recurring Donor Report, based on its customers' data, found 79.11% retention for recurring donors in 2025 against 32.41% for non-recurring donors. Neon One describes the recurring pattern as stable: between 2023 and 2025, recurring donor retention held steady at 78% to 80%—while non-recurring donor retention fell from 35.75% to 32.41%. M+R Benchmarks, which tracks online giving, reports a similar gap. After a full year, 71% of sustainers are still active, compared to 24% retention for new donors. The M+R data are also summarized in a separate benchmark: monthly donor retention rates average 71% after 12 months and 54% after 24 months, according to the M+R Benchmarks 2026 study.

Recurring donors are also worth more over time. Recurring donors give more than three times what new donors give annually , according to Neon One's research. For a church or community program, the lesson is practical: a monthly giving option converts a one-time impulse into a habit. Our monthly giving statistics report goes deeper on sustainer averages and the faith-giving gap.

Where the money comes from: the giving context

Retention matters more as the individual share of giving shrinks in relative terms, even as totals grow. Total charitable giving in the United States totaled $617.2 billion in 2025, according to Giving USA Foundation's 2026 Annual Report on Philanthropy. Giving by individuals totaled an estimated $394.2 billion, up 4.1% from 2024 in current dollars. Individuals still give most of the money, but their share has dropped steadily. In 1986-1990, giving by individuals made up 80% of total giving; that percentage fell to 77% in 1996-2000 and to 70% in 2016-2020.

Religious organizations, which church leaders watch closely, have seen their own slice shrink. Religion's overall share of total giving has steadily declined over time—from 53% in 1985 to just 23% in 2025. Giving USA also reports that a 17% surge in bequests hints that a wealth transfer may be underway. For faith-based organizations, that combination makes donor relationships more important, not less. See our faith-based volunteer statistics for how congregations build capacity.

The compounding cost of losing first-year donors

Small retention changes add up. One analysis models a single acquisition cohort. Consider an organization that acquires 200 new donors in year one at a 20% first-year retention rate. By year two, 40 of those donors are still giving. With a 60% retention rate for multi-year donors from that point forward, by year five only about 8 of the original 200 remain active . The same source contrasts this with a higher first-year rate, which changes the outcome substantially. The lesson is that acquisition spending pays off only when the second and third gifts follow.

Donor counts and year-over-year decline

The donor base has been shrinking for several years, and the rate of loss has varied. In the FEP's 2024 data, donor numbers have dropped by -4.5% year-over-year, with smaller donors ($1-$100) showing the sharpest decline at -8.8%. By 2025 the overall decline had narrowed to -3.6% (±0.5%) . Smaller donors are the group most at risk. While retention rates have fallen across all donor size segments, the sharpest declines seen amongst the Micro and Small donor groups.

Dollars and donors are moving in different directions. The FEP reports that there was an estimated 5.0% (±0.5%) increase in dollars raised in Q4 2025 compared to 2024 , but the growth was concentrated among larger donors. Growth was driven almost entirely by Major and Supersize donors, whose count and dollars both grew , according to the FEP's summary. That is a warning for smaller organizations, which depend on broad donor bases.

What this means for your volunteer program

Donor retention and volunteer retention follow the same logic. People who take a first step and then feel unconnected rarely return. Churches, food banks and shelters that rely on volunteers should treat the first 90 days as critical, track who returns, and build a clear next step after the first contribution. Our volunteer burnout report covers the cost of losing volunteers, and the faith-based volunteer statistics show how congregations expand capacity.

Retention also depends on trust. Volunteers who work with children, seniors or food-insecure families need to be screened properly, and that screening should be consistent and documented. VolunteerBadge offers FCRA-compliant background checks with identity verification and no monthly fees. You can review our identity verification process, learn how to run checks, and compare plans on our pricing page. Nonprofit teams can review our nonprofit program and join the VolunteerBadge Academy for training on volunteer operations.

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