How shifts already documented in the sector are reshaping what nonprofits can sustain
Part V of the 5-part DorseyReports series: Before the Numbers Change, Behavior Changes
Each part stands alone and contributes to a broader examination of how changing market conditions influence results across sectors. Additional articles in this series are available on our website.
When organizational leadership comes to the table to discuss declining donor counts, weaker retention, and smaller shares of supporters carrying a larger share of results,¹ nearly everyone at the table knows where the problem lies: fundraising.
These results are visible expressions of changes already underway in how stakeholders engage, what they expect, and how those expectations evolve over time.
Yet in many cases, the stakeholders are the same individuals and organizations the organization has worked with for years, but they are behaving differently than they have in the past.
Participation may remain steady while continuity weakens. More people may engage, but fewer sustain that engagement over time.
The stakeholders showing up, engaging, and responding are not always the ones required to sustain the organization as it is built, or as leadership intends it to become.
As this shift takes hold, it begins to change what the organization must do to secure support and deliver on its mission. After all, programs adjust, messaging follows, and resources concentrate where results are produced.
These adjustments influence what is offered in order to sustain adequate response. Over time, they may extend beyond delivery to shape what is emphasized, what is prioritized, and what is carried forward.
The organization continues to operate, and support remains visible. What is forming beneath those results is a model increasingly dependent on conditions that are less stable, less predictable, and more difficult to sustain – or to sustain the organization as it is built.
What was once advanced with limited reinforcement now requires more deliberate effort, and engagement varies more from one cycle to the next.
Initial response does not consistently develop into sufficient ongoing participation. Maintaining activity requires expanded effort across outreach, follow-up, and coordination.
As these conditions persist, the structure of support begins to change. Activity continues, but it is carried forward differently.
Participation provides less of the foundation, engagement becomes more conditional, and a smaller portion of stakeholders accounts for a greater share of support.
In response, organizations act in ways that are consistent with what they experience. Programs are adjusted to sustain participation, messaging reflects what draws response, and resources are directed toward what produces results.
These responses are reasonable, but they are also shaped by conditions that have already shifted.
Over time, they begin to influence what the organization does to secure support. What is offered evolves, how it is delivered follows, and who it is designed to reach increasingly reflects the response it receives.
The model continues to function. It produces activity, but it becomes more dependent on conditions that require continued reinforcement.
Understanding stakeholders – and aligning to sustain or adjust mission – is an ongoing process.
This progression reflects the interaction between an organization and a changing market. What distinguishes outcomes is whether that interaction is recognized as it develops or only after it has taken hold.
The shift calls for strategic review of whether stakeholder behavior, organizational emphasis, and mission continuity remain aligned.
Footnotes
¹ Association of Fundraising Professionals and GivingTuesday, “FEP Data for Q4 2024 Highlights the Growing Role of High-Dollar Donors Driving Fundraising Performance,” 2025; Giving USA 2025: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2024, Giving USA Foundation, 2025.
² Ben Suykens, Johan Hvenmark, and ChiaKo Hung, “Mission Drift,” in International Encyclopedia of Civil Society (Springer Nature, 2024); Hana Fehrenbach, Marlene Walk, and Itay Greenspan, “Organizational Change in Nonprofit Organizations,” VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations 35 (2024): 1041-1045.