One trend has defined charitable giving over the past two decades: dollars up, donors down. In other words, an increasing share of charitable dollars has come from a smaller cohort of large-dollar individual donors.

Though total donations have increased, the trend has raised concerns among nonprofit-sector leaders, as individual giving is still the largest source of charitable contributions for nonprofits.  Others have argued that a decline in individual donors could mean giving has become less democratic, with fewer people supporting the causes that matter to them.

But new data from our nationally representative survey of executive directors at nonprofits that primarily receive, rather than give, funds reveal that more nonprofit leaders reported increases in individual donations in 2025 than they had in previous years. The survey excludes hospitals, universities, and other types of nonprofits with unique contexts. The reported increase in individual donations, including small-dollar donations, suggests participation could be broadening and could reflect the fact that many nonprofits increased their fundraising from charitable and philanthropic sources in the wake of government funding disruptions in 2025. More tracking will be needed to determine whether this was a blip in a tumultuous year for the sector or a resurgence of small-dollar giving.

In this analysis, we examine how individual giving in Massachusetts has changed since the state passed a universal charitable deduction in 2023. This deduction allows taxpayers to deduct the value of their charitable contributions from their state tax return, regardless of whether they itemize their federal tax deductions. Based on our new data, we find that more Massachusetts nonprofit leaders reported growth in small-dollar and large-dollar donations last year than in previous years, with a notable increase in the share of nonprofits that received donor-advised fund (DAF) grants.

Growth in large-dollar donations between 2023 and 2025 and a resurgence of small-dollar donations in 2025 in Massachusetts

Massachusetts data from our 2024, 2025, and 2026 surveys of nonprofit leaders show that reported donations at or over $250 (i.e., large-dollar donations) increased for more nonprofits year over year than donations under $250 (i.e., small-dollar donations).

Twenty-seven percent of Massachusetts nonprofit leaders reported an increase in large-dollar donations in 2023 compared with 2022, but this share jumped to 35 percent in 2024. By comparison, around a quarter of Massachusetts nonprofit leaders (27 percent in 2023 and 24 percent in 2024) reported that small-dollar donations increased compared with the previous year.

But in 2025, amid federal funding cuts and government funding disruptions, we find more Massachusetts nonprofits reported increases in both small and large gifts, and the share of Massachusetts nonprofits reporting growth in small gifts was especially large. Between 2024 and 2025, the share of Massachusetts nonprofits reporting increased funding from small-dollar donations rose 14 percentage points—a 58 percent increase—from 24 percent in 2024 to 38 percent in 2025. In this same period, the share reporting increases in large-dollar donations rose just 6 percentage points—a 17 percent increase—from 35 percent in 2024 to 41 percent in 2025.

Though a slightly higher share of nonprofit leaders reported increases in large-dollar donations compared with small-dollar donations (41 percent versus 38 percent) in 2025, the share reporting growth in small-dollar donations in a one-year period is notable. Reported growth across small-dollar and large-dollar donations in 2025 could indicate that gains in individual giving were more broadly distributed across Massachusetts nonprofits rather than concentrated among a smaller number of organizations in 2025.

An increase in DAF grants in Massachusetts also suggests growth in individual giving in 2025 

DAFs allow individuals and organizations to contribute money to a giving account, receive an immediate tax deduction, and recommend grants to nonprofits at a later time. Though private foundations and corporations can give through DAFs, the funds are more commonly looked at as tools for individual donors who want to set aside money to give at a later date. When more nonprofit leaders report receiving grants from DAFs, this is one indication that more DAF grants are recommended by DAF holders, which could suggest growth in individual giving.

Nationally, the share of nonprofits reporting receipt of DAF grants increased from 43 percent to 58 percent between 2023 and 2025, a 15 percentage-point increase. But growth in Massachusetts exceeded the national average, with the share of nonprofits that reported receiving DAF grants growing from 50 percent in 2023 to 72 percent in 2025, a 22 percentage-point increase.

Nationwide, the share of nonprofit leaders reporting increased funding from DAFs rose from 21 percent in 2024 to 32 percent in 2025, an 11 percentage-point gain compared with the previous period. For Massachusetts nonprofits, the share rose from 21 percent to 43 percent, a 22 percentage-point increase. Similarly, the average percentage of revenue coming from DAF grants increased from 2 percent to 3 percent between 2024 and 2025 for nonprofits across the country, but the share grew from 2.8 percent to 4.6 percent for Massachusetts nonprofits. Both metrics suggest that Massachusetts nonprofits experienced revenue growth from DAFs in a more pronounced way than nonprofits nationwide.

The growth in receipt of DAF grants suggests that individuals with DAF accounts might have stepped up their giving to support nonprofits, especially in Massachusetts, during a tumultuous period in 2025.

Looking ahead

This preliminary analysis of reported individual donations and DAF grants raises several important future research questions:

• Why did DAF donations increase so dramatically in Massachusetts in 2025, and what does this suggest about DAF grantmaking rates during crises?
• Did the Massachusetts universal charitable deduction contribute to the rise in tax-deductible donations into DAF accounts in 2023 and 2024, which could have made it possible for those DAF account holders to recommend grants to a broader collection of nonprofits during a tumultuous year?
• It can take time for taxpayers to learn about new tax provisions. Did small-dollar donors take longer to respond to Massachusetts’s universal charitable giving incentive than large-dollar donors, which could explain the jump in small-dollar donors in 2025?
• Or was it ultimately the government funding disruptions in 2025 that increased reported small-dollar donations to nonprofits in the state?
• What might the impacts of the universal charitable deduction in Massachusetts tell us about whether the new universal charitable deduction provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act might sustain or increase small donations in future years?

In the coming years, having access to representative, accurate, and detailed national and state-level data will be critical to helping nonprofit leaders, advocates, policymakers, funders, and researchers understand what affects charitable giving and what might sustain and potentially grow the base of donors who contribute to a thriving, pluralistic civil society and democracy.