3 Priorities for Nonprofit Fundraising Success in 2025

Steve Jacobson
Chief Executive Officer
Now that we’re a month into 2025 – and those overly optimistic New Year’s resolutions are clearly in the rearview mirror, it’s time to prioritize your work goals for the rest of the year. If you’re like most people, you’re probably battling a long and urgent to-do list that makes it hard to focus on your longer-term priorities. Add to that those problems that come out of nowhere and you wind up playing a game of whack-a-mole, just slightly keeping your head above water. And, of course, all of this is against a backdrop of a tight budget, with little room for error.
On top of all this, you’ll need to brace yourself for cuts in federal funding. If you’re in the arts, you may see budgets slashed for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Together, these two government institutions have a budget of over $400 million, of which approximately 80% directly funds the arts, libraries and higher education. And, if you’re in healthcare and your research is funded in part by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) $48 billion budget, you’re likely to see significant cutbacks there, too.
Thus, with public funding becoming increasingly tenuous, it will be critical that nonprofit organizations make up for any shortfall through more effective and efficient fundraising. Here are the three top priorities we’d like you to consider to put your organization on a sustainable path in 2025.
Invest in Your Team
The labor market is very tight. We have seen first-hand how some of our clients are having a hard time filling vacant development operations/advancement services positions, especially when technical Salesforce skills are required. These struggles may partly be due to compensation requirements, but we think that it may also be related to a perceived lack of interest in the job description.
We are also seeing a scarcity of successful major gift fundraisers in the job market. There, too, we see high compensation demands, but also gift officers’ caution that they may be the victim of unrealistic expectations. Boards and senior executives don’t always understand how difficult major gift fundraising is. As we all know, it takes time to build relationships to raise money, but some nonprofit leaders haven’t gotten the memo.
Our suggestion would be to build capacity in the organization by investing in professional development and training. The average tenure of a fundraiser is said to be a year to 18 months. While low pay can be an incentive to job hop, so is a lack of true professional development, where there are options to move up within the organization. Structured training along with a mentoring program can go a long way to making your fundraising team stick around.
Get Your Data Ecosystem Under Control
Regardless of nonprofit vertical, we have found that data ecosystems, the nexus of data, systems, people and process, are often disorganized and unconnected. Data tends to be siloed, hindering organizations’ abilities to truly understand their donors and stakeholders (as described in this success story). This goes back to individual departments that chose software based only on their needs – and not those of the organization.
Data quality is also problematic. Data is not coded consistently, making accurate and timely reporting almost impossible. Duplicate records result in multiple mailings, which wastes time and money. And there’s too much time spent on managing data that’s just not important.
In terms of process, we’ve also seen a number of cases in which staff run processes just because they’ve always done them that way, without questioning why. And, given that systems are often not connected, staff may be entering the same data into different systems. Not only is this inefficient, but it introduces human error into the equation.
So, for 2025, one of your top priorities should be to strategically plan for how all the pieces fit. Take stock of what systems you have – even those shadow Excel spreadsheets that no one wants to admit they use. Document the data flows and sketch it all out to see what this current state data model looks like. If it’s a bit Frankenstein-ish, that’s OK. Then, taking into account where you want to be in three years, draw what you think the future state should look like. As you start to design your future state data ecosystem, here are a few tips:
• Choose a technology stack that you know and can support
• Identify those applications that don’t meet the organization’s needs
• Look to consolidate functionality that can be handled by other software you already license
• Consolidate systems to save on licensing/subscription fees and increase manageability
• Understand how each system relates to one another and consider building integrations
Measure Impact
Once your data is organized and clean, leverage it to measure impact within the organization. Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) that show how well (or not) key areas are performing. Make sure that what you’re tracking is actionable. This means that your KPIs should be updated in near real time – and that you have a plan to make changes based on that data.
Not only are KPIs important for measuring the health of your nonprofit’s business, they provide a great opportunity to engage your donors. Now, instead of providing them with overall numbers (e.g., how much you raised last month), you can directly address how a specific program that they’ve funded is doing.
If you’re struggling to get the insights you need from your current CRM reports, consider creating custom reports. While requiring more initial effort, they grant you complete control over the data presented, ensuring it perfectly aligns with your unique business needs and workflows.
Here’s To a Successful 2025
Navigating the funding challenges of 2025 will require a proactive and strategic approach. By prioritizing your team’s development, establishing a robust and integrated data ecosystem, and consistently measuring your impact, you can position your nonprofit for success.
As always, if you need guidance on your data and technology or help customizing your reports, we are here to help.