State of Good for October 12, 2026

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

Welcome back. This week’s brief covers a widening gap between what funders think they’re providing and what nonprofits say they need, a corporate giving landscape that’s consolidating around fewer partners, promising news from Gen Z donors, and a visibility challenge that affects every organization reading this. Let’s get into it.

Foundations Know Something Isn’t Working, And They’re Saying So

A new survey reported by the Chronicle of Philanthropy finds that just 12% of foundations believe their response to federal funding cuts has actually worked (Chronicle of Philanthropy).

Read that again. This isn’t nonprofits complaining about funders this is funders grading their own performance, and 88% aren’t giving themselves a passing mark.

In my years working with both foundations and the organizations they fund, I’ve rarely seen this level of candor from the funder side. The survey points to a significant disconnect between what foundations are providing and what nonprofits actually need as they navigate reduced federal funding. That gap is real, but acknowledging it is an opening.

Here’s the strategic insight: when funders publicly admit their current approach isn’t landing, they’re signaling openness to change. Foundations don’t commission and publicize surveys like this unless they’re looking for a better playbook. The organizations that benefit will be the ones that show up with specific, well-documented requests rather than general appeals for support.

What This Means for You:

• Stop assuming your program officers know what you need. Spell it out: operating support, bridge funding, multi-year commitments, whatever it actually is.
• Document the specific hardships created by funding shifts in your organization. Concrete numbers move foundation boards; vague descriptions of “challenging times” don’t.
• If a current funder asks how they can help, have a one-page answer ready. This is not the moment for modesty.

Corporate Giving Is Consolidating: Here’s How to Stay on the List

Meanwhile, on the corporate side, the Chronicle reports that companies are reducing the number of charitable partnerships they maintain, concentrating their giving around fewer nonprofit partners (Chronicle of Philanthropy).

The pattern is clear: fewer charities will receive corporate gifts this year. But the organizations keeping their corporate relationships share a common trait: they give their partners a clear reason to stay.

I’ve sat on both sides of these conversations, and consolidation usually follows a predictable logic. Companies want deeper relationships with fewer partners because they’re easier to measure, easier to activate employees around, and easier to communicate. A corporate giving officer managing 40 small partnerships can’t tell a compelling story about any of them. One managing eight can.

This means the bar for corporate partnership is rising, but so is the potential value for organizations that clear it. The nonprofits making the cut aren’t necessarily the biggest; they’re the ones articulating a clear value proposition: what the company gets, what employees experience, and what impact gets reported back.

What This Means for You:

• Audit your current corporate relationships. For each one, ask: if this company cut its partner list in half tomorrow, would we survive the cut? If you’re not sure, you have work to do.
• Build a value proposition document for each corporate partner, employee engagement opportunities, impact reporting, visibility, volunteer experiences. Make renewal an easy internal case for your champion.
• When pitching new corporate partners, lead with what you offer them, not just what you need from them.

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Gen Z Is Showing Up And Driving New Donor Growth

Now for some genuinely encouraging acquisition news. The Q2 2026 American Giving Index from Tiltify Catalyst finds that Gen Z donors are driving new donor acquisition (NonProfit PRO).

For a sector that has spent years watching donor counts decline, this matters. New donor acquisition is the hardest, most expensive part of fundraising, and the youngest adult generation is doing more of the heavy lifting than many organizations expected.

But here’s the catch I see constantly when reviewing campaigns: most nonprofits still run acquisition playbooks built for donors who entered the pipeline through direct mail in 1995. Gen Z donors behave differently the data shows changing patterns in how younger donors engage and the organizations capturing this growth are the ones meeting them where they already are rather than trying to pull them into legacy channels.

The acquisition opportunity is real. The question is whether your organization is positioned to receive it.

What This Means for You:

• Review your giving experience on a phone, right now. If a first-time donor can’t complete a gift on mobile in under a minute, you’re losing the generation driving acquisition.
• Treat Gen Z donors as long-term relationships, not small gifts. Their first $15 gift is the beginning of a decades-long giving arc.
• Build your stewardship for digital-native expectations: fast confirmation, visible impact, authentic voice.

Your Biggest Competitor Isn’t Another Nonprofit, It’s Invisibility

Finally, research covered by the Chronicle of Philanthropy reveals a foundational challenge: most Americans regularly use nonprofit services but remain unaware of how nonprofits impact their daily lives (Chronicle of Philanthropy).

Think about what this means. The hospital, the food pantry, the after-school program, the arts center, the hospice- people move through nonprofit-delivered services constantly without realizing a nonprofit made it possible. For most Americans, the sector is invisible.

This finding should reframe how you think about awareness. Before a prospective donor can value your organization, they have to recognize that organizations like yours exist and matter. Every fundraiser I know focuses on differentiating their nonprofit from other nonprofits. This research suggests the bigger task is making the nonprofit role visible at all.

The practical upside: organizations that consistently connect the dots, “this service exists because of donors like you,” aren’t just stewarding gifts. They’re doing the sector-level education that makes future giving possible.

What This Means for You:

• Name the nonprofit mechanism in your communications. Don’t just describe what you do; explain that it exists because people chose to fund it.
• Equip your board and volunteers with simple language about what your organization makes possible in the community. They’re your visibility multipliers.
• Audit your public-facing touchpoints (service locations, events, website). Would a casual visitor understand that donors power this work?

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This week’s takeaway: The funding landscape is consolidating on multiple fronts; institutional funders are reassessing their approach, and corporate partners are becoming more selective. At the same time, new donors are entering the pipeline from unexpected directions, and the broader public still doesn’t fully see the sector’s role in their lives. Organizations that thrive will communicate their needs explicitly, articulate clear value to partners, and make their work visible to the people already benefiting from it.

Three actions for this week:

1. Write your “here’s what we actually need” one-pager. Specific asks win in a moment when funders are openly reassessing how they help. Have it ready before the next conversation.
2. Stress-test one key partnership. Pick your most important institutional or corporate relationship and honestly assess the value you’re delivering back. Strengthen it before renewal season, not during.
3. Test your mobile giving experience with a first-time donor’s eyes. Time it. Fix the friction. The donors driving new growth won’t wait for a clunky form.

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The University of Michigan’s School of Information just launched a new giving society to celebrate its most committed donors, and it’s worth your attention because the recognition ties directly to outcomes (UMSI).

This isn’t a plaque-and-gala exercise. The society’s donors fund internships students couldn’t otherwise afford and support research in fields like health and robotics. Donors aren’t just being thanked for loyalty; they’re being shown exactly what their commitment unlocks: a student who gets career-defining experience, research that changes lives.

Most giving societies miss the connection between recognition and tangible impact. Membership tiers and lapel pins don’t retain donors. Belonging to something that visibly changes outcomes does.

The Lesson: Donor recognition works best when it points outward, not inward. Don’t just celebrate what donors gave; show them what their commitment made possible. Any organization, at any size, can build recognition around outcomes instead of amounts.