First Day Podcast

In this episode of The First Day from The Fund Raising School, host Bill Stanczykiewicz, Ed.D., welcomes back Rick Dunham, founder and chair of Dunham+Company, for an insightful breakdown of donor confidence heading into 2025. Drawing on a fresh national survey of 1,500 active donors (each having given at least $20 in the past year), Dunham reports that 91% of donors plan to continue giving, an encouraging signal in a landscape often marred by doom-and-gloom headlines. Even more uplifting? A robust 79% intend to give the same or more this year, marking one of the strongest confidence ratings since 2020. The study reveals that this wave of confidence is largely buoyed by an improving economic outlook. Donors’ optimism about the future, especially in the wake of recent elections, appears to be boosting charitable intent. But Dunham emphasizes that while economic conditions matter, nonprofits themselves still carry the torch. Communication is king, or at least, the royal herald. Donors reported that consistent