As it did in 2024, Giving Tuesday 2025 broke its record for revenue, bringing in an estimated $4 billion, up 13% over last year’s total of $3.6 billion. And once again, dollars were not the only good news. The number of Americans participating in the event in some way increased from an estimated 36.1 million to an estimated 38.1 million, with the number of volunteers jumping from 9.2 million to 11.1 million. Despite any uncertainty around government funding for nonprofits and the health of the economy, donors gave generously to the causes and organizations they chose to support.
With each year, Giving Tuesday has seen increasing growth in awareness and creativity among its donors. This trend was seen at the national and local levels. GoFundMe reported an increase of 13% in the number of donors who made gifts on its platform. At Vanguard Charitable donor advisors utilized DAFs to increase their gift recommendations by 26% over 2024. And more individuals opted to make recurring donations this year.
One example of local ingenuity happened in St. Petersburg, Florida, where the groups 100 Good Guys St. Pete and 100 Women Who Care St. Petersburg came together to raise more than $50,000 to benefit three area nonprofits.
At the same time, the shock of government funding cuts and continued concerns about economic stagnation resulted in warnings to charitable organizations to go well beyond Giving Tuesday in restructuring fundraising programs, emphasizing the need for diversification and consistent donor engagement.
In one LinkedIn post, nonprofits were advised, “Giving Tuesday favors organizations with large lists, strong networks, or high-visibility campaigns. Smaller nonprofits or those serving niche or underserved communities often get lost, no matter how critical their mission is. The spike over relationship approach discourages long-term donor stewardship. Without consistent follow-up, most gifts remain one-time contributions. The labor and cost required to run a competitive campaign can easily outweigh the net benefit, and donor goodwill can be eroded if supporters feel overwhelmed year after year.”
There is also concern that end-of year giving may have suffered in 2025, based on a survey conducted in early December by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Charitable organizations have typically depended on a “December surge,” based on past estimates that one-third of annual giving occurs in the last month of the year. This survey, however, “found that about half U.S. adults say they’ve already made their charitable contributions for 2025. Just 18% say they’ve donated and will donate again before the year is over. Only 6% report they haven’t given yet but will do so by December’s end. The rest, 30%, haven’t donated and don’t plan to.”
We will follow up on final end-of year giving numbers in a future blog. And perhaps it’s time to change traditional giving patterns, which have too often left nonprofits scrambling for income in the first quarter of the year. For those donors inclined to make gifts in the new year, here are two suggestions:
• izzit.org (Free to Choose)
These are high-impact organizations working to strengthen civics education nationwide which are now part of our Civics Playbook. Both of these organizations help advance the principles of liberty, opportunity and personal responsibility. A healthy democracy depends on citizens who understand their rights and duties. With the right support, we can dramatically expand civic knowledge and engagement across the country.
