How Macro Uncertainty Is Reshaping U.S. Giving

Giving in the United States is being reshaped by overlapping forces of inflation, political division, and perceived government retreat. Americans are re-engineering how they give, but the good news is they’re not abandoning generosity itself. 

Voices for Good, Brand Federation’s inaugural index that benchmarks donor behaviors and motivators, has uncovered a wealth of insights that create a picture of today’s nonprofit donor. Generated from the insights of over 500 nonprofit donors from around the country, Voices for Good provides nonprofit leaders and executives with proven findings and tangible action items for navigating the economic uncertainty of today, ensuring that donor relations and expectations aren’t just met, but exceeded.

One trend that is clear is that giving habits are changing in today’s climate. The three most apparent shifts are:

1. Reducing donation amounts or frequency under cost-of-living pressure
2. Substituting volunteering or in-kind aid over cash donations
3. Donating in direct response to gaps left by government funding reductions

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What do these shifts mean? 

These changes reveal a resiliency in philanthropy. Donors may be personally restricted, but are still equally committed to an organization’s needs. This means smaller gifts with a visible impact, and as we discovered, to local organizations they trust. Economic pressure is redefining how Americans give—not whether they give. Nearly half of respondents indicated a reduction in donation size or frequency, yet most maintained commitment through new giving formats or localized choices that emphasize trust, transparency, and gap-filling impact.

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Why does this matter?

• Economic Realities: Almost half (45%) of donors surveyed have adjusted their giving because of inflation or cost-of-living strain. Donors are still engaged, but they’re likely not giving gifts in comparable amounts to years past.
• Shift from Scale to Specificity: Some donors (16%) have perceived a decline in government funding and have reframed philanthropic giving as a gap-filling bridge to nonprofit continuity. Instead of asking for unrestricted funds and trusting that, donors now expect nonprofits to articulate exactly what private dollars replace.
• Trust and Transparency are Critical: Across interviews, donors emphasized that clarity on where each dollar goes and visible outcomes determine their ongoing donor relationship with a nonprofit—especially under economic stress.

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How can I put this into action?

We can’t control how our society at large is behaving, but we can adjust how we meet them where they are with the information and proof points they’re looking for. Before you send out your next appeal, check your messaging to see if you’re hitting these points.

• Name the Reality: Show your donors that you understand what they’re going through. Acknowledge cost-of-living pressures and public shortfalls, and put them into context as they relate to your organization.
• Specify the Bridge: To that end, be clear in how their gift bridges the gap left by any loss of public funding. Quantify how their private dollars fill the gaps (e.g. $25 covers X meals our federal grant no longer covers).
• Lead With Transparency: Let your donors know exactly where their funds are going. Publish clear donation breakdowns and provide 30/60/90-day outcome updates.
• Offer Budget-Conscious Options: To meet the needs of your everyday donor, provide low-dollar recurring options ($5–$10/month) with explicit outcomes. You can also create structured volunteer or pooled micro-gift campaigns for donors who’d rather substitute time or in-kind gifts in lieu of cash donations.
• Close the Loop: Lastly, report tangible results within 30 days (e.g., “This month your $10/mo fed 14 people”). This maintains belief in impact amid uncertainty.

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Economic and political turbulence have changed how Americans give, not why. Donors are economizing, localizing, and insisting on transparency while continuing to view private giving as essential to bridging public shortfalls. The new baseline is hybrid generosity—smaller gifts, more volunteering, tighter vetting, and heightened demand for proof of impact. Nonprofits that openly acknowledge economic realities, define how private support “fills the gap,” and demonstrate rapid, apolitical results will retain trust and stabilize donor participation even in constrained times.

To better understand today’s nonprofit donor, download our Voices for Good report.

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Voices for Good Methodology 

Brand Federation fielded 512 in‑depth, semi‑structured interviews on EmpathixAI’s CultureChat 

platform. Built and overseen by PhD‑trained social scientists, CultureChat conducted large‑N qualitative interviews using a 17‑question guide that blended open‑ and closed‑ended prompts. Interviews totaled 213 hours of conversation. Transcripts were systematically coded and cataloged, combining expert-designed code frames with model-assisted classification to generate structured aggregates and prevalence estimates, which were reported in the Voices for Good Report. This approach preserves qualitative richness (what donors say and why) while enabling statistically defensible summaries across key demographics (e.g., gender, age, income, education, and religion/denomination).

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