State of Good for March 23, 2026

by | Mar 23, 2026

Weekly insights on donor behavior, industry trends, and what’s shaping generosity
⏱️ 9 minutes | Once a week

Donors & Industry Indicators

The Hidden Crisis: When Your Fundraisers Can’t Fundraise

Two major reports released this week reveal what many development directors already know but rarely discuss publicly. According to new research featured by Inside Philanthropy, the Nonprofit Finance Fund’s “The Heart of the Nonprofit Sector” report documents widespread well-being challenges among nonprofit workers. This pairs with troubling findings that board governance failures are directly fueling staff burnout across Canada’s nonprofit sector, with similar patterns emerging in the U.S.

The connection is stark: when boards make poor governance decisions, development teams pay the price. High turnover, mental health challenges, and reduced fundraising capacity follow predictably. One development director described it as “trying to build relationships while constantly training new staff.”

What This Means for You:

  • Audit your board’s governance practices — poor oversight directly impacts fundraising results
  • Track development team turnover as a key performance indicator
  • Consider well-being initiatives as fundraising infrastructure, not overhead
  • Share these reports with your board to frame staff retention as mission-critical

The Great Wealth Transfer Gets Personal

The multi-trillion dollar wealth transfer isn’t just a statistic anymore — it’s driving real change in giving patterns. This week’s Women’s Philanthropy Symposium highlighted two converging forces: women’s growing influence in philanthropy and the integration of AI-powered giving tools.

Women are increasingly shaping philanthropic decisions, not just through their own wealth but as influencers in family giving strategies. The symposium revealed that organizations successfully engaging women donors see average gift sizes increase by 35% and retention rates improve by 28%.

Meanwhile, AI-powered giving platforms are making it easier for these donors to find and support causes aligned with their values. Early adopters report that AI-driven donor matching increases first-time gift conversion by 42%.

What This Means for You:

  • Review your donor communications for unconscious bias toward male decision-makers
  • Invest in AI tools that help match donor interests with your programs
  • Create giving circles or affinity groups specifically for women donors
  • Track gender demographics in your donor database to identify engagement gaps

Tax Changes Force Strategic Pivots

The countdown to 2026 tax changes has begun, and smart nonprofits are already adapting. New strategies around gift bunching are emerging as donors prepare for modified deduction rules. Organizations implementing data triggers to identify bunching candidates report maintaining 87% of projected revenue despite anticipated tax law impacts.

The approach is technical but the concept is simple: help donors maximize their tax benefits by concentrating multiple years of giving into strategic windows. One community foundation reported that donors who bunch gifts increase their lifetime giving by an average of 23%.

What This Means for You:

  • Set up automated systems to identify donors who might benefit from bunching
  • Create educational content about tax-efficient giving strategies
  • Partner with financial advisors to reach donors before year-end planning
  • Develop multi-year pledge options that accommodate bunching strategies

Why Donors Give?

What if your donors gave not because you asked, but because giving is who they are?

Research reveals a powerful truth: when charitable giving becomes part of someone’s self-concept, everything changes. Donors who see themselves as “generous people” or “champions for education” don’t just give more, they give 2-3x more over their lifetime than those who view giving as occasional charity.

This is identity-based giving, and it’s one of the most powerful forces in philanthropy. The psychology is straightforward: humans are motivated to act consistently with how they see themselves. When giving becomes part of someone’s identity, not giving creates cognitive dissonance. The gift isn’t a sacrifice, it’s self-expression.

Try This:

  • Frame appeals around donor identity: “As someone who cares deeply about children…” rather than “Please donate to help children”
  • Create naming opportunities that reinforce identity: “Education Champions” or “Founding Circle”
  • In thank-you letters, affirm the donor’s identity: “Your generosity reflects who you are”
  • Design donor surveys that ask about values and identity, not just giving capacity

The shift from “please give” to “this is who you are” transforms transactional donors into lifelong partners.

    💡 Pure Charity’s Fundraisers features make it easy to create & manage recurring donation campaigns.

    What's Changing?

    Gen Z Speaks Up

    The most talked-about article this week came from a Gen Z donor calling out nonprofits for completely misunderstanding their generation. The message was blunt: “You’re asking the wrong questions.”

    The author revealed that nonprofits obsess over technology and social media tactics while missing the fundamental point — Gen Z donors want authentic relationship and measurable impact, not flashy apps. Organizations that shifted from “How can we reach Gen Z?” to “How can we serve alongside Gen Z?” saw engagement rates triple.

    Your Move:

    • Don’t treat Gen Z as a monolithic group to be “cracked”
    • Invite young donors onto committees and boards as full partners
    • Share unfiltered impact data, including failures and learnings
    • Create volunteer-to-donor pathways that respect their time constraints

    Trust Beats Wealth in Planned Giving

    A provocative analysis of planned giving strategies challenged conventional wisdom about legacy donors. Using examples from the Annenberg Foundation to a Vermont janitor who left millions, the research proves that transformational bequests come from trust relationships, not wealth indicators.

    Organizations that aligned their development strategy with this insight saw planned giving commitments increase by 67% within 18 months. The key? They stopped chasing wealthy prospects and started deepening relationships with loyal supporters regardless of capacity.

    Your Move:

    • Audit your planned giving prospects, are you overlooking loyal donors with modest means?
    • Train staff to discuss legacy giving with every donor, not just major donors
    • Create storytelling opportunities for donors to share why they included you in their will
    • Measure planned giving success by commitments secured, not just prospect wealth ratings

    Bottom Line

    This week’s takeaway:

    This week’s takeaway: The future of fundraising depends less on new tactics and more on taking care of fundamentals, your people, your relationships, and your donors’ evolving needs.

    Three actions for this week:

    1. Schedule a governance review with your board chair to address any practices contributing to team burnout
    2. Analyze your donor database by gender and generation, then adjust engagement strategies for gaps
    3. Start conversations with mid-level donors about gift bunching and planned giving opportunities, trust matters more than wealth

    💡 Pure Charity can support your 2026 Fundraising Strategies.

     Reach out, and we can discuss.

    Good In Action

    Cornell University just proved that peer influence drives giving like nothing else. Their recent Giving Day shattered records not through slick marketing but through mobilizing the largest number of volunteer ‘champions’ in the event’s history.

    These champions — students, alumni, and staff who personally reached out to their networks — created a cascading effect of participation. The result? Record-breaking donations and, more importantly, a strengthened sense of community. One student champion reflected, “Seeing that collective support reminds students that they are part of a community that believes in their success.”

    The Lesson: Your most powerful fundraising tool isn’t technology or tactics — it’s people who believe in your mission enough to share it with others. Invest in building champions before building campaigns.

    💡 Have a Good In Action story that you would like to share?  Respond to this email and share the details.