American Giving Index: The Next Generation of Donors Isn't Walking Away from Philanthropy, They're Redesigning It

Inaugural Quarterly Benchmark from Tiltify Catalyst Scores U.S. Philanthropy 62 Out of 100 as Donor Base Narrows Beneath Record Totals

LOS ANGELES, April 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Tiltify Catalyst, the nonprofit fundraising platform from Tiltify, today released the inaugural American Giving Index (AGI), a quarterly benchmark measuring the health of institutional philanthropy in the United States. The Q1 2026 Index scores a 62 out of 100, placing the philanthropic sector in "stable but under pressure" territory as record fundraising totals mask a widening gap between dollars raised and donors retained.

Through the first three quarters of 2025, the number of donors to U.S. nonprofits declined 3% even as total dollars raised grew 3.7%, according to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project. Donors giving $50,000 or more represent just 0.4% of the donor base, but account for more than half of all dollars raised. Donors giving $100 or less, who make up the majority of all donors, declined by more than 10%. As the system raises more money from fewer people, the American Giving Index was built to track where that tension leads.

The Index is based on a national survey of 1,000 U.S. donors conducted in February 2026, ages 18 to 64, all of whom reported donating within the past 12 months. It evaluates institutional philanthropy across four dimensions: Impact Confidence, Financial Capacity, Institutional Trust, and Engagement & Activation.

Key findings from the Q1 2026 American Giving Index include:

• Affordability is the dominant barrier to giving, not trust or fatigue. 52% of donors cite tight personal finances as the primary reason they do not give more. Trust concerns account for just 9%, and cause fatigue for 17%. Financial Capacity scored the lowest of any Index pillar at 40 out of 100.
• Donors want proof, not promises. 75% of donors say they are more likely to give when they receive real-time updates on what their contribution accomplished. Among Gen Z, that figure rises to 81%. Meanwhile, 86% of donors say they would prefer to give directly to a person in need rather than through an organization.
• Younger donors are not tuning out. Just 10% of donors aged 18 to 29 say they have disengaged from repeated crisis messaging, compared to 16% of donors aged 55 to 64. This tracks to Tiltify's 2025 Giving Season Report which found 15% of Gen Z donors say they feel more compelled to help than they did a year ago, compared to 4% of older donors.
• Creator-led fundraising is the fastest-growing acquisition channel for younger donors. 48% of donors aged 18 to 29 have donated through a creator livestream, compared to 11% of donors aged 55 to 64. Among those who have participated in a creator fundraiser, 70% say they supported a cause they had no prior relationship with because a trusted creator was raising money for it.
• When budgets tighten, younger donors cut charity first. 30% of donors aged 18 to 29 say they would reduce charitable giving before entertainment spending, compared to 17% of donors aged 55 to 64. For younger donors, philanthropy competes directly with discretionary spending, which means the experience of giving increasingly matters as much as the ask.
• Social media has become the primary discovery channel for young donors. 36% of donors aged 18 to 29 discover new causes through social platforms, while donors aged 55 to 64 still rely primarily on personal relationships (34%) and independent research (33%). Discovery has shifted from deliberate seeking to embedded exposure within digital environments.

"The American Giving Index was built to answer a question the sector has been avoiding: if total giving keeps going up but the number of people giving keeps going down, how long is that sustainable?" said Michael Wasserman, co-founder and CEO of Tiltify. "The data is clear that Americans remain generous. But how they discover causes, how they evaluate credibility, and where they choose to participate are all changing. Philanthropy does not have a compassion problem. It has an alignment problem. The organizations and platforms that close that gap will be the ones that sustain broad participation over time."

The Index also finds that trust in charitable organizations has not collapsed, but has become conditional. 43% of donors believe many organizations waste money on overhead, and nearly half (46%) report having suspected or confirmed fraud in a fundraiser they supported. Tiltify's own platform data reinforces the transparency finding: fundraisers using the platform's built-in transparency tools consistently outperform industry peer-to-peer benchmarks, with campaigns averaging significantly higher totals when donors can see exactly where their money goes in real time, including going directly to the charities vs a third party Donor Advised Fund (DAF).

The report identifies five directional forces shaping participation: increasing concentration of giving among fewer, wealthier donors; financial capacity as the primary constraint on broader participation; trust shifting from institutional assumption to active verification; strong engagement that is migrating toward digital and creator-mediated channels; and alignment with behavioral and economic realities as the determining factor in whether participation widens or narrows further.

The full Q1 2026 American Giving Index is available here. The Index will be updated quarterly.

About Tiltify

Tiltify is the fundraising infrastructure platform connecting creators and causes at scale. With more than $500 million raised for charitable causes and partnerships spanning thousands of creators and nonprofit organizations worldwide, Tiltify powers the campaigns that turn digital communities into philanthropic movements. From record-breaking creator-led fundraisers to enterprise peer-to-peer solutions through Tiltify Catalyst, the platform provides the tools, transparency, and trust infrastructure that modern giving demands. For more information, visit Tiltify.com.

About Tiltify Catalyst

Tiltify Catalyst is the community-driven fundraising platform built for how people live and give today. As donor participation declines across traditional channels, Catalyst helps nonprofits activate a new generation of fundraisers and reach supporters through their networks.

Built on the same engagement principles that power creator-led fundraising, Catalyst helps nonprofits expand beyond their existing donor base, increase participation, and modernize their peer-to-peer programs. Supporters raise more when fundraising becomes interactive — using tools like rewards, polls, and milestones across any campaign type, from individual livestreams to large-scale fitness events.

Catalyst also publishes the American Giving Index, a quarterly benchmark tracking the evolving behavior of donors and the future of philanthropy. Learn more at tiltifycatalyst.com.

Media Contact:
John Eidson
Beantown Media Ventures
[email protected]

SOURCE Tiltify