Weekly insights on donor behavior, industry trends, and what’s shaping generosity
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GivingTuesday Game Day: $4.01 Billion Expected Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the moment. After weeks of preparation, GivingTuesday 2025 arrives December 2nd, and the projections are staggering.

Whole Whale predicts $4.01 billion will be raised on GivingTuesday, an 11% increase over 2024’s record-breaking $3.6 billion. That’s roughly $410 million more flowing to nonprofits in a single 24-hour period. Last year, 36.1 million people donated—a 16% increase from 2023—signaling that despite donor fatigue narratives, concentrated giving moments continue to grow.

What This Means for You: The shift from “preparation mode” to “execution mode” is critical. Your email sequences are loaded. Your matching gifts are lined up. Now it’s about real-time optimization. Remember: 60%+ of GivingTuesday gifts arrive via smartphone, meaning page load speed directly impacts conversion. Every second of delay costs you donations.

The Multiplier Effect: Here’s what most nonprofits miss: 20-30% of GivingTuesday donors will convert to monthly giving when offered that option at the right moment. Tomorrow isn’t just about one-time gifts—it’s about building your recurring donor base for 2026.

💡 Pure Charity can support your GivingTuesday Fundraising Needs and help with donor retention to maximize the value of your fundraising activities.

Consumer Confidence Crashes to 7-Month Low, but Wealthy Donors Remain Ready

A warning sign flashed last week: The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index tumbled to 88.7 in November, dropping 6.8 points from October—the lowest reading since April. The Expectations Index fell even harder, sliding 8.6 points to 63.2. Consumers are worried about jobs and inflation, with one-year inflation expectations sitting at 4.8%—well above the Fed’s 2% target.

The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index tells a similar story, sitting at just 51 points in November.

The K-Shaped Reality: Here’s the nuance: Mass-market donors are anxious. Wealthy donors are not. The stock market remains near all-time highs, and major gift capacity is strong. Your year-end strategy should reflect this split.

What This Means for You:For grassroots appeals, lean into urgency and impact—show donors their $50 matters more than ever. For major donor conversations, confidence remains high; this is a giving window, not a retrenchment. Don’t let consumer sentiment headlines convince you to pull back on asks. The money is there—it’s just concentrated differently than before.

💡 Pure Charity can help with the management of recurring donations to help increase donor retention.

Year-End Giving: The Final 30-Day Window Is Your Biggest Opportunity

The M+R Benchmarks 2025 Report confirms what savvy fundraisers suspected: December 31, 2024 giving was up 11% year-over-year, the first increase in December 31st donations in three years. December 31st alone accounted for 5% of total 2024 revenue for many nonprofits.

But here’s the number that should reshape your strategy: Monthly giving now represents 31% of online revenue, up 5% year-over-year. One-time giving? Flat.

The Math That Matters: 30% of all annual giving occurs in December. 10% of that happens in the last three days alone. For many nonprofits, December 29th-31st raises more than GivingTuesday. This isn’t a sprint to December 2nd, it’s a marathon through December 31st.

What This Means for You: Use tomorrow’s GivingTuesday momentum to launch your monthly giving push. The data is clear: one-time gifts aren’t growing, but recurring revenue is. Every GivingTuesday donor who converts to monthly giving is worth 6x their initial gift over their lifetime. The 30-day window starts now.

(just to repeat)💡 Pure Charity can help with future Giving Days and the management of recurring donations to help increase donor retention.

Giving Tuesday Is Tomorrow, Execution Mode Activated

The countdown is complete. After last week’s preparation guidance (65% retention rates, 8-day action plans), GivingTuesday 2025 arrives in less than 24 hours. This is no longer about planning—it’s about performing.

What’s Different This Year: Donors are more mobile than ever. Matching gift fatigue is real—your match needs to feel urgent and credible. Post-gift stewardship must happen within 24-48 hours to capitalize on the 65% retention advantage GivingTuesday donors show compared to 52% for donors acquired on other days.

Your Hour-by-Hour Focus:

• Morning (6-9 AM): Early-bird emails hit. Watch your mobile conversion rates.
• Midday (11 AM-1 PM): Social momentum builds. Peer-to-peer fundraisers peak.
• Evening (6-11 PM): The surge. 40% of GivingTuesday gifts arrive after dinner.
• Final Hour (11 PM-Midnight): Last-chance urgency. Matching gift countdown.

The December Tailwind: One positive economic signal: the S&P 500 historically averages 1%+ gains in December, its third-best month since 1950. If the Fed decides to cut rates this month, donor portfolios should remain strong through year-end.

💡 Pure Charity fundraisers are built for GivingTuesday: mobile-first, real-time tracking, 5-minute setup.

Why does “$40 feeds 10 children” outperform “Help us fight hunger”?

The answer lies in what researchers call the “specificity gap.” Donors don’t just want to help; they want to see their help.

Abstract missions create distance. Concrete outcomes create connection.

The psychology is straightforward: specific, tangible giving levels activate the brain’s reward centers more powerfully than vague appeals. When donors can visualize exactly what their gift accomplishes, they experience the emotional satisfaction of giving more immediately.

Research from Bloomerang shows 65% of donors want regular updates on the impact of their gifts, but only 36% of nonprofits provide them.

On Giving Tuesday, this matters more than ever. Campaigns with clear giving levels (“$40 to Feed 10 Children”) dramatically outperform generic asks.

Try This:

• Create 3-4 specific giving levels tied to tangible outcomes ($25 = one week of meals; $100 = one month of shelter)
• Use concrete numbers in your appeals: “Your gift provides 47 meals,” not “Your gift helps feed the hungry.”
• Send impact updates within 30 days showing exactly what their gift accomplished

Bottom Line:

Tomorrow is game day. GivingTuesday 2025 is projected to raise $4.01 billion, but the real opportunity is what happens next. Use the 30-day window through December 31st to convert one-time donors to monthly givers. That’s where the growth is: monthly giving is now 31% of online revenue and rising, while one-time giving is flat.

The K-shaped economy is real. Consumer confidence crashed to a 7-month low, but wealthy donor portfolios remain strong. Segment your year-end strategy: urgency and impact messaging for grassroots donors, confidence and vision for major gift conversations.

Younger generations are rewriting the philanthropy playbook. The MrBeast-Rockefeller partnership isn’t a gimmick, it’s a signal. Creator-driven giving is how Gen Z and Alpha engage with causes. If you’re not thinking about digital storytelling and influencer partnerships for 2026, you’re ceding ground.

Trust-based giving works. Give Miami Day’s record-breaking $43.8 million, 100% unrestricted, proves that when donors trust nonprofits to deploy funds wisely, generosity explodes. The lesson: flexibility enables impact.

The organizations that thrive in 2026 won’t be the ones with the biggest budgets. They’ll be the ones who understand that donors aren’t leaving because they’re tired of giving, they’re leaving because we’re not showing them impact, meeting them where they are, or earning their trust.

Tomorrow, earn it.

Give Miami Day Shatters Records: $43.8 Million in Trust-Based Giving

Last Thursday, Give Miami Day delivered an early indicator of what’s possible when communities rally around generosity: $43.8 million raised for more than 1,400 nonprofits, an 11% increase over last year’s $39.5 million record. More than 60,000 donors made over 120,000 gifts in 24 hours, making it one of the largest single-city giving days in the nation.

But here’s what makes this story more than a headline: 100% of Give Miami Day donations go to nonprofits as unrestricted funds.

That’s trust-based philanthropy in action.

No restricted grants. No reporting burdens. No programmatic strings. Just flexible funds that let nonprofit leaders direct resources where they’re needed most. In an era of increased foundation oversight and government funding disruptions, unrestricted giving represents the ultimate vote of confidence in nonprofit leadership.

Note: The Miami Foundation, which organizes the event, has proven that concentrated giving days with matching funds and infrastructure can explode generosity beyond what any single organization could achieve alone.

The Lesson: As Giving Tuesday approaches tomorrow, Give Miami Day offers a preview: when donors are given a trusted moment to give, and nonprofits are given the freedom to deploy those gifts wisely, remarkable things happen. Trust begets generosity. Flexibility enables impact.

Consider partnering with your local community foundation to participate in, or create, similar giving days in 2026.

The State of Good Report is published by Pure Charity to help nonprofit leaders understand donor behavior, sector trends, and giving patterns. We’re here to help you raise more, retain better, and build sustainable funding.

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