The Giving USA 2026 Report, and what it means for you
Giving USA released its 2026 report on 2025 charitable giving, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy tapped FreeWill co-CEO Patrick Schmitt for perspective on what it means.
What's in the report?
The report shows that bequests had the largest growth of any giving source this year. Conversely, foundation giving declined from last year's record highs, though the longer-term trend remains positive. Individual giving is concentrating at the top, with larger gifts coming from fewer, wealthier donors.
A few numbers from the report worth sitting with:
Total giving hit a record in 2025 with $617.2 billion
Bequests grew nearly 20% in 2025, the third double-digit jump in the last four years
Individual giving has fallen from 80% of all dollars in 1985 to just 64% today
In short? The data suggests the Great Wealth Transfer may already be underway.
What does it mean for me?
Patrick recently unpacked what the report indicates for nonprofits, and how you can adjust your fundraising strategy to make the most of the learnings. Watch this webinar recording for practical next steps for turning this moment into planned gifts.
Does your organization create and send e-newsletters to communicate with donors? We are collecting feedback to better understand the pain points your organization faces when developing and sending updates. Fill out this survey to share your thoughts!
We know many organizations receive Smart Gifts that don't flow directly through FreeWill but are influenced by our tools, strategy, and donor outreach. Complete this survey by July 31 to help us better measure your program's impact and shape the insights we'll share at this year's Giving Season Summit. As a thank-you, you'll receive either a $10 gift card or a $10 donation to your organization.
Gearing up for Q4? FreeWill and Charity Navigator are co-presenting the inaugural Giving Season Summit – a free, virtual event built to help teams finish the year strong and build momentum for 2027. Join world-class fundraising experts and thousands of your nonprofit peers at the most important fundraising event of the year!
September 10, 2026
11:30 AM – 6:00 PM ET
Free and virtual | CFRE credits available
Plus special, partner-only sessions on September 9, 2026 from 3:00 – 5:00 PM ET
Every session will be recorded and is practitioner-led, built around tactics you can actually use. Topics include:
Named Donor Stewardship helps you automatically thank planned giving donors who share their contact information with you by sending a customized email on your behalf through the FreeWill email marketing platform. Setup takes less than 15 minutes in Partner Portal under Customizations > Auto-Stewardship, and once enabled, you'll also be able to track sent and opened email statuses directly in Portal.
⚙️ New: Grant your team access to Partner Portal for Trainings and Resources only!
With the updated User Permissions modal, you can now give team members access to the Marketing Library, Learning Hub, and other shared resources, without automatically granting access to your analytics, insights, donor data, or dashboards. It's an easy way to share the library of resources, templates and trainings with your broader team, without any reporting or donor data.
Please note that all users with the "Individual donor information" check box selected will also have Insights and dashboards preselected. Portal admins can learn how to add new users for Trainings & Resources only in this help center article.
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