June was a particularly full month for research and industry data (some of it expected, some of it genuinely surprising), and there is a good mix here spanning benchmarks, fundraising strategy, AI and the economics of giving.
NOTE: There is an AI Grant Opportunity: OpenAI has $50 million on the table for nonprofits and AI. The 2026 People-First AI Fund closes July 15, 2026. The eligibility box is narrow, so make certain you read through it before starting the grant.
Eligibility includes: US-based 501(c)(3) only; operating budget between $500K and $10M (they're prioritizing $1M to $8M); standalone organizations only.
- The winners will be those who already know exactly where AI fits: (1) Name the specific bottleneck, such as the lengthy intake process or the report nobody has time to pull. (2) Name the population it helps you reach. (3) Demonstrate the community trust you already have.
- The fund is platform-agnostic. You will not need OpenAI's products to apply, and using them won't help your organization win. Gemini, Claude and Co-Pilot are all OK to use.
Let's dive into this month's highlights, insights and studies.
Benchmarks and studies
Giving USA 2026 reports that U.S. charitable giving rose 5.7% in current dollars and reached a record $617.2 billion in 2025, a 3% inflation-adjusted increase, with bequests jumping nearly 17% and doing much of the heavy lifting. Reporting showed individuals provided 64% of total U.S. charitable giving, foundations 19%, bequests 10% and corporations 7%.
The 2026 North American Prospect Development Benchmark Study from Kindsight and Apra International drew on data from 500 organizations in North America and found one genuinely striking correlation: Operationally mature development shops consistently reported significantly more revenue influenced by prospect research, regardless of organizational size. There is a free self-assessment tool built into the report if you would like to see where your shop lands on their maturity index.
The OneCause 2026 Fundraising Outlook Report is now available for free download. The report highlights how 1,273 organizations are investing in fundraising technology and addressing donor-related challenges.
A May 2026 survey of the BBB Giving Alliance Donor Trust Special Report of more than 1,500 U.S. adults found that only 41% of respondents were aware that platforms like GoFundMe can create donation pages without a charity's permission, and nearly half say a charity's presence on a well-known platform increases their trust in that organization.
New data from a Gallup and Edward Jones study on financial fulfillment, covered by The NonProfit Times, found that only 16% of U.S. adults feel financially fulfilled, while 83% (roughly 216 million people) report some level of financial stress, strain or uncertainty.
Fundraising
When Donors Ask AI Where to Give, Will Your Nonprofit Show Up? NonProfit Pro reports that, as donors increasingly turn to ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews for giving recommendations, nonprofits not showing up in those AI-generated answers risk being left out of the discovery conversation entirely.
M+R's piece What "Googling" Will Mean in 2027 reports on Google's recent announcements that signal more search interactions will resolve without the user ever visiting your website and agentic features rolling out this summer could eventually extend to donations completed directly in the search interface.
In a related piece, M+R's analysis Creators Are Challenging the Influence of Advocacy Groups lands with a real gut-punch: Only 17 advocacy groups made the top 500 most influential social media accounts in Q1 2026 (just 3%), while 270 individual creator accounts made up more than half the list.
The argument in NonProfit Pro’s article Donors Don't Just Want a Relationship — They Want Belonging is rooted in brain science and behavioral research, making the case that most supporters are looking to be part of a tribe, not just a mailing list.
Gen Z Is Ready to Give, But Is Your Online Giving Experience Ready for Them? from NonProfit Pro puts numbers behind what many of us are sensing: More than 70% of Gen Z participated in some form of donating in a given week, surpassing older generations in overall giving participation. The catch is they expect mobile-first, frictionless experiences, and they abandon a clunky donation flow faster than any generation before them.
A longer read from NonProfit Pro, Playing the Long Game: How Nonprofits Can Find and Keep Gen Z and Millennial Donors, unpacks what actually drives these generations to give and stick around.
Dunham+Company's piece Donors Are Watching. Here's How to Make Sure They Feel Safe is a timely read on the intersection of cybersecurity and donor trust. Nearly 30% of nonprofits reported experiencing a cybersecurity incident, yet fewer than half had a formal data security policy in place, and PCI DSS 4.0 (the updated payment security standard) went into full effect in March 2025.
For organizations with a legacy giving program, FreeWill's recent webinar Ask the Experts: Behind the Scenes of Successful Make-A-Will Month Campaigns now has a recording and downloadable resources available.
Make-A-Will Month is August, and the window to plan and promote is now. In the resources, make sure to grab the Make-A-Will-Month Guide. Or, if you wonder if you and your organization are ready, take the 30-second readiness assessment.
Economics
The annual inflation rate in the United States was 4.2% for the 12 months ending in May, up from 3.8% previously, according to U.S. Labor Department data released June 10, 2026. The next update is scheduled for July 14. The annual U.S. core inflation rate (which excludes volatile food and energy costs) stands at 2.9% for the 12 months ending in May.
The University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index stands at a final reading of 49.5. While this reflects an upward bounce from the record low of 44.8 in May, it remains historically depressed due to ongoing concerns over the high cost of living and inflation.
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index stands at a reading of 93.1. The index dipped slightly, indicating ongoing caution driven by concerns over inflation, energy costs and global geopolitical tensions.
In May 2026, U.S. employers added 172,000 nonfarm jobs, surpassing analyst forecasts of 85,000. The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.3%, with the broadest measure of unemployment (U-6) dipping slightly to 8.1%.
The Wall Street Journal reports that America's economic anxiety is no longer just a lower-income story. Financial worry is climbing the income ladder into middle- and upper-middle-income households, and that matters for fundraising because a meaningful portion of your donor base may feel uncertain about their financial footing even when their income looks stable on paper.
The New York Times offers additional context in Wages Are Falling. Wealth Is Surging. No Wonder Americans Are Unhappy. The piece examines how the gap between those who earn wages and those who hold assets continues to widen, with trillionaire-level wealth accumulating at the top while real wages stagnate or decline for millions.
This Pew Research finding is worth noting for what it tells us about the modern donor household. For the first time ever, a majority of two-parent U.S. households (52%) have both parents working full time, up from 46% a decade ago and 31% in 1975.
RKD resources
Remember that the RKD blog is an ongoing resource for fundraising insights and sector-specific thinking. If you haven't visited recently, it's worth bookmarking. And if there's a topic you'd like us to dig into or a benchmark you've been looking for, just say the word.
- 6 questions you should ask your agency about modeling
- 5 reasons donors stop giving to missions ... and what you can do about it
- Year-end success starts now
- 5 best practices for building a more intentional mid-level donor program for The Salvation Army
- Rossi's Roundup: DAFs are booming, Gen Z is giving and donors still need connection
- Chat: The power of relationships, curiosity and boundaries in nonprofit leadership
- Thinkers: ‘Superfans’ and storytelling: What nonprofits can learn from Brittany Hodak
- Chat: How Toys for Tots turns seasonal generosity into a year-round monthly giving program
- Chat: Opening doors to opportunity: A food bank leader’s nonlinear path to impact
Last but not least, I read a thought-provoking piece this month from Jason Feifer that stuck with me. He suggests that one of the biggest communication mistakes we make isn't saying the wrong thing. It's assuming that everyone knows what we mean.
As fundraisers, we're immersed in our organizations every day. We know the programs, the acronyms, the campaigns, the budget needs and the urgency. Our donors don't. They're seeing us through a single email, letter, text, social post or appeal.
Perhaps the most important question to ask before you hit send is, "Would someone outside our organization immediately understand why this matters and what we're asking them to do?"
The organizations that will stand out won't necessarily be the ones using the newest AI tools. They'll be the ones communicating with the greatest clarity, empathy, and humanity.
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