A culture of generosity is a foundational, almost philosophical approach to how we manage nonprofit organizations. At its heart, it is recognizing and honoring the fact that as a nonprofit organization, we exist and in large part are able to advance our missions because of philanthropy, because of generosity.
A culture that really embraces generosity embraces it at all levels. Every person involved with the organization, starting with the board, staff, leadership, and volunteers, understands their role in philanthropy. And it's all about relationships. We recognize that our donors are more important and their engagement is more important than the dollars that they bring in. A culture of generosity is really focused on relationships, on engagement, and embracing the fact that generosity allows our organization to exist in the first place.
The GivingUSA is the most comprehensive report on giving in the United States. It is planned and implemented through the Giving USA Foundation, which is a part of the Giving Institute, but also partnered with the Lilly School of Philanthropy.
In the 2025 report, which reported on 2024 numbers, what we really saw was broad-based growth in giving. Overall, we were at $592.5 billion in charitable giving in 2024. Over the last 40 years, what we've seen by and large is an increase, $13 billion of growth year over year on average over the last four years. Out of the nine different sectors that report their charitable giving, seven received significant increases in giving from the previous year.
When we pair that with other research that the Lilly School of Philanthropy is doing, specifically looking at individual giving, from 2008 to 2020, less than half, from 65% down to 46%, of households in the country are self-reporting as giving charitable donations. Less than half are saying yes, as compared to more than 65% just before 2008.
What that means is we're seeing increased numbers coming in, but we're seeing fewer households, fewer people giving. Fewer people are giving more dollars every year. We are really seeing the shrinking number of people that are supporting nonprofit organizations, which speaks to the necessity of embracing a culture of generosity that goes beyond any one individual organization.
The Generosity Commission released its overall recommendations and findings around generosity in the sector, with nine major recommendations for everyone in the nonprofit sector to consider.
For those that are staff, development professionals, board members – we start with ourselves. What can I be doing? Within our own organizations, we can do things that embrace generosity and help get more and more people to understand that we ourselves are a nonprofit. What does that mean?
On a broader scale, organizations can work with local funders, foundations, family foundations and community foundations. They can ask themselves: how can we be leaders in the industry to bring together partnerships? How can we really be working for the overall good of broadly increasing generosity?
Just like with any measure of the effectiveness of an organization, it really does require the buy-in at the top level of the organization starting with board members, even the top board leadership. However, it doesn't mean that it has to necessarily start with the board if it's not already there.
What is great about a culture, any culture, is the certainty that we are impacted by the culture in which we're embedded, but we also have the opportunity to impact that culture ourselves. As a nonprofit professional, you have a sphere of influence within your organization.
As an example, a museum really built out a culture of generosity by partnering their advancement team with the curatorial team in a new way, one that provided an opportunity for the different teams to not be siloed. This museum also recognized that the developmet and curatorial teams were both doing some of the same things, particularly stewarding relationships. By really opening these compartmentalized departments, by being willing to train and to coach each other, and to be coached and to be trained by their counterparts, the teams recognized this was a two-way street.
A sign that you may not fully yet embrace a culture of generosity is how often you are asking for gifts versus thanking for gifts - and then really reporting back on what happens. If we're only ever asking, what is that saying to our donors?
One approach is to press pause on asking in favor of understanding first. Of course, those that really need to be solicited over the next two or three months because their gifts are due, we move those along. But for everyone else we pause - we really look at how we have stewarded them. Have we properly thanked them and reported back on the outcome before we even consider returning for an ask? And importantly, this isn’t just guidance for the advancement team. Look at who owned the relationships - is this an appropriate thing for perhaps a board member or the development committee to come in and to be a part of some of this stewardship?
Really look at what your own culture is first. If it's not a culture of generosity, how would you describe your culture? And then, if we want to get to a culture of generosity, what are some things we can do? What are one or two things that each of us can do within the next month to help move the needle?
Making sure that communication is always two-way is vital. We're not talking at or sending messages to, we're having true conversations and we're really learning from each other.
Increase communication with donors. Don't be afraid to continue the conversation and talk with your donors. We don't have to have all of the solutions at any given time, but sharing about where you are is really, really important. Picking up the phone and calling a donor is a step in advancing your culture of generosity. You don't need to be calling to ask for anything or to give them an update, rather to ask how they are, to share how things are going, and ask the question: how we can serve you as well?
Making assumptions is a mistake. Assuming that other team members don't want to be a part of fundraising or philanthropy, that perhaps they don't know their role, that perhaps they're nervous about it, or that we need to teach them how to do it are all assumptions that may not be true. What I've consistently heard after going through these exercises and facilitating conversations with groups is: they know more than you think and you might have more to learn than you think. This is more than just training other team members - it's learning from them.
Not celebrating the wins. That is a huge pitfall. Whenever we experience success in a nonprofit organization, take the time to celebrate! If you have a board member that was part of a good cultivation point, cheer them on or give them praise in front of everyone. Honestly, it’s also just plain old good for our souls to get to have those moments of saying thanks and receiving gratitude.
There's a reality that we all need to understand: if there are cuts being made in one area, it's going to seep into others because we're going to be competing with more organizations to get private philanthropic dollars. The simple truth is that these funds are finite.
From a strictly financial standpoint, the cost to bring in a new donor versus a re-engaging a past or current donor is far greater. Conveniently, implementing a culture of generosity also entails treating and really caring for not just current donors, but lapsed donors. This also happens to be a great way to begin to protect ourselves during times of uncertainty.
Anyone that has supported you in the last five to 10 years as an organization is a better prospect than someone that never has. And it's okay to reach out! If you see in your base that someone hasn't been cultivated the way that you would like, it's okay to address that and say: "I'm so sorry it's been so long since we've been in touch with you, but this is a focus for me. Would you be willing to have coffee with me?" Just open the door and then be ready to have that conversation.
Today, it is well-documented that trust in institutions is eroding - including between nonprofit organizations and prospective donors. So we have to ask the question: how do we build trust? We build trust by communicating early and often. By asking questions and checking in. By reporting back even when we don't love what we have to report – it is always worth it to say it out loud. What these steps can do is not just build trust, but build real buy-in and partnership with your donors, even with your volunteers.
"Here's what we're working on. Here's what we've experienced. And here's how we're moving forward. And what are your thoughts on this?"
A culture of generosity says that a donor's engagement is more important than the dollars that they're giving. So let's engage everyone and recognize that there is a business benefit, down the line. We do it because we think this will increase their giving, but even if it didn't, we do it because it’s simply the right thing to do.
Foundation giving increased significantly according to the GivingUSA report. Part of the reason is that 2024 was a fairly strong market economy and many foundations are spinning off a percentage that they're required to give. But another part is the collaborative efforts that we see foundations encouraging nonprofits to take, and the novel ways that foundations are now looking to serve nonprofits.
If a foundation has supported you for many years in the same way, consider having a conversation about it. Let them know about the other things you have going on too - we're seeing foundations wanting to be more innovative with how they support organizations with things like matching gifts, partnering among nonprofits, or just having that conversation.
A few questions you can immediately ask yourself: Does your organization or its board have a committee? Can you take this beyond just your own team to perhaps a development committee or an advancement committee to really have these conversations at the board level? If you do or once a committee is established, you can let the group know: here are the different ways we receive funding, these are our needs and here’s how we build our case and how we operate.
Nine times out of 10, whenever I hear from someone that their board doesn't want to help in fundraising, the truth is that the board doesn’t understand what that help looks like or the board truly hasn't been asked.
If you encounter resistance, make more of a business case. Consider the ways that we can control what a report on the numbers looks like. If you're taking a report to a board, then, by all means, lead by example and start reporting on things that aren't just dollars. Ask yourself: how can I then report back on the number of touch points that I had this month? And how that has impacted the numbers? Show the board what it looks like with more people owning relationships, more people doing touch points. Make sure to explain both what that looks like and how it has impact.
Scenario planning is almost always a good investment and use of time – in addition, it can be a way to show a board different scenarios based on where we are now and what happens if we make investments in a culture of generosity.
And, if all else fails, you can go do it. Then show your board and your team what you did. Show them what happened. And let them know that we just have to keep going.
A big recommendation that came out of the Generosity Commission's report is the work that needs to be put into engaging younger generations. We are seeing engagement in those younger generations, but it doesn’t look the same. How many teenagers and young adults are out there really passionate about making a difference? They might not yet have directly linked making a difference and a nonprofit organization, but that's our job in the nonprofit sector, to connect those dots and to teach younger generations.
TikTok was responsible for the greatest number of recurring giving enrollments in 2025 by 18% compared to all other social platforms. TikTok is primarily much, much younger people, and that age range speaks exactly to this point.
Consider bringing younger generations in as decision makers. Younger generations that are qualified to serve on a board - don't make junior level positions for board members. Bring them all the way in. Think about the diversity of your board relative to age as well. You might not necessarily ask them to speak on behalf of their generation, but hearing from them and their spheres of influence is really, really important. So give younger people them a full seat at your table.
Culture moves through a team, through an entire organization often before anyone notices it is happening. That means as well that you’re not only shaped by the culture surrounding you. You shape it too.
If something feels off in or around your organization, don’t look away. No organization gets culture right all the time. The real question is whether or not someon is willing to ask the hard questions, bring up the difficult conversations and do something about it.
A culture of generosity is worth fighting for and it won’t arrive on its own. Someone has to model it, shape it and keep at it.
There's work to be done and you can do it.
For questions, reach out to support@betterunite.com.
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BetterUnite's all-in-one fundraising platform combines donor management, event ticketing, moves management, and stewardship automation in a single system — purpose-built to help nonprofits retain more supporters and raise more money.
Leya Simmons
Co-founder & CEO | BetterUnite
The Co-founder and CEO of BetterUnite, a platform supporting over 6,000 nonprofits, she brings a unique lens to the sector — shaped by 15+ years as a private art dealer and gallery owner, board leadership at organizations like the Austin Museum of Art and the Texas Film Hall of Fame, and her own experience navigating nonprofit fundraising as board president of Community Yoga Austin. A yoga teacher, female tech executive, and mother of five, she is passionate about giving nonprofits the tools they need to do more with less.