Download the Full Recurring Donor Report!
Neon One’s newest research report is here! It’s The Recurring Donor Report: Data-Backed Insights for Sustainable Generosity, and it shows that recurring donors are growing in number, staying engaged longer, and lending stable, predictable support to their favorite nonprofits.
This is a big deal for the nonprofit sector. Total charitable giving is rising, but the number of people giving to nonprofits has been declining for years. For many organizations, that means they’re relying on a smaller pool of supporters for a larger share of their revenue. That is not a sustainable trend.
The Recurring Donor Report points to a better one.
Using three years of transaction data from 4,107 nonprofit organizations and survey responses from 718 recurring donors, this report explores how sustaining donors behave, what motivates them, and why nonprofits should prioritize building recurring giving programs.
Recurring Donors Are Growing Even As Donor Bases Shrink
In 2023, the average nonprofit had 748 active supporters in its database. By 2025, that number had fallen to 707. But, during that same period, recurring donor bases grew from 19 recurring donors to 25.
Those might not seem like huge numbers of recurring donors, but that is exactly the point. Most nonprofits still have relatively small recurring donor communities. The opportunity to grow is substantial.
Recurring revenue also grew 36.25% across the sector. And, during a time when nonprofits are facing real pressure to create sustainable revenue, that kind of stable support matters.
Recurring Donors Are Some of Your Most Valuable Supporters
If you look at people’s annual giving, recurring donors generally give less than people who make one-time gifts. The average initial donation size for recurring donors is $84.38, with a median initial gift of $30.00. But it’s their longevity and their consistency that make them such invaluable supporters.
Retaining donors is far more cost-effective for nonprofits than constantly acquiring new ones, and this is an area where recurring supporters really shine. Between 2023 and 2025, recurring donor retention rates stayed between 78% and 80%. Non-recurring donor retention, by comparison, fell from 35.75% in 2023 to 32.41% in 2025.
Recurring donors also stay engaged much longer than their counterparts. Their average donor lifetime was between 7.5 and 8 years. For one-time donors, it was between 1.5 and 2 years.
That difference has a major impact on their donor lifetime values. In 2025, the average donor lifetime value was $7,288.26 for recurring donors and $3,606.90 for non-recurring donors.
And these aren’t (usually) major donors who require extensive individual cultivation. In fact, 94.5% of recurring donors are everyday donors who give less than $5,000 annually. For nonprofits that want to build a broad community of people who offer sustainable growth, this makes recurring donors especially important.
People Are Ready to Give on a Recurring Basis
When recurring donors were asked why they created a sustaining gift, the most common answer was simple: they wanted to support a cause they care about.
But one finding stands out: most people who decide to support a cause they care about do so without being asked. Just 25% of recurring donors said they gave because a nonprofit asked them to, while 58.6% said they started giving without being asked at all.
Now, this doesn’t mean nonprofits shouldn’t ask their communities to create recurring gifts. They should absolutely do that. What it does mean is that the people who support their favorite nonprofit with a recurring gift are passionate people who want to make an impact on the world around them.
This is a sign that nonprofits should ask people for ongoing support and also be intentional about showing the people in their community how their donations will make a difference.
Personal Connections Inspire Recurring Gifts
In our survey, recurring donors said the most common trigger for their gifts was seeing a nonprofit do work that mattered to them. In fact, 41.6% of respondents said that was what prompted them to give.
The second-most common trigger was a social media appeal. The third was donors actively seeking out organizations to support. Traditional fundraising letters, workplace giving programs, and input from friends and family also played roles in inspiring giving, but they did so for far fewer people.
There’s a pattern here! Recurring donors are motivated by a personal connection to a cause, an understanding of the impact they can make, and a sense that their support matters.
What This Means for Nonprofits
Recurring giving programs are one of the clearest growth opportunities in fundraising today.
They help offset shrinking donor bases, they create more predictable revenue, and the people who are a part of them are likely to stay engaged for years. And, because recurring givers are usually everyday donors, these programs help nonprofits build a broad, stable base of support.
If you want to grow your own recurring giving program, there are a few steps you can take.
Start by making your organization and your impact visible in your community. Include recurring options on your donation forms. Talk about sustaining gifts in your emails, on your website, and across different social channels. Show people the impact they can make with their ongoing support.
And, most importantly, be intentional about building the kind of personal connections that make someone want to stay involved with your nonprofit over time.
Closing Thoughts
Recurring donors are a bright spot in a challenging fundraising environment.
At a time when donor bases are shrinking and retention rates are low, recurring donors offer something increasingly valuable: stability. They are passionate, resilient, and ready to invest in the causes they care about.
The people who will support your work with a sustaining gift are some of the most passionate, committed, resilient people you will encounter in your time as a fundraiser. They’re ready to support you. Now you just need to let them do it.
Get the Full Recurring Donor Report
This article has only scratched the surface of what we cover in the report. Download the full thing to get addditional insights into recurring donor motivations; individual benchmarks for small, mid-size, and large nonprofits; and a whole lot more.
Just click the button below and fill out the form to download the full report. Happy reading!
