Welcome to the Pure Charity State of Good Report for March 30th, 2026.
This is your weekly intelligence brief for nonprofit leaders and fundraisers.
My name is Mike Rush. I'm part of the team at Pure Charity, and this week we're looking at how artificial intelligence is creating a real trust tightrope for fundraisers, why your mid-level donors might be the most undervalued asset on your roster, and some federal policy shifts that deserve your attention right now.
So join me as we dive into the State of Good.
All right, let's start with what I think is the most important conversation happening in fundraising right now, and that's the role of artificial intelligence.
NonprofitPRO published an analysis this week showing that while AI is enabling more personalized and targeted fundraising campaigns through donor behavior analysis, organizations that don't have proper AI oversight in place are actually risking the trust that makes giving possible in the first place.
And that's the tension here. AI can do incredible things.
It can help you understand giving patterns, personalize communications, identify donors who are ready for an upgrade ask.
But here's the thing. The same capabilities that make it powerful are exactly what make it problematic if you don't have ethical frameworks around it.
Think about it from your donor's perspective. They want you to know them well enough to communicate in a way that feels relevant and personal.
But they don't want to feel like they're being surveilled.
That's a fine line. And I would say most organizations right now are adopting AI tools faster than they're adopting AI governance.
So if you're experimenting with any AI tools in your fundraising, and honestly even if you're not yet, now is the time to audit your data collection practices and create even a simple, public-facing statement about how you use donor data.
It doesn't have to be complicated. But it has to exist.
Now let's talk about something that connects to this.
The Association of Fundraising Professionals, AFP Global, published a piece this week about flipping the script on the "fewer donors, more dollars" trend by focusing on mid-level donor retention.
And one finding really stood out to me.
Retaining one mid-level donor, we're talking someone giving $500 to $5,000 a year, typically equals acquiring 10 to 20 new small donors in terms of revenue impact.
Let that sink in. Ten to twenty new donors.
And yet most organizations are spending disproportionately on new donor acquisition while their mid-level donors sit in this no-man's-land.
They're getting the same mass appeal emails as someone who gave $25, but they're not getting the personal attention of a major gift prospect.
These are donors who have demonstrated both capacity and commitment.
They are your future major gift donors. So if you haven't already, segment your donor file, identify everyone in that $500 to $5,000 range, and create a distinct communication track for them.
More personal than your mass appeals, less intensive than major gift cultivation.
Track their retention as its own metric. Because this group is where your stability and your growth potential live.
In our segment about why donors give, here's something interesting about donor psychology that's worth thinking about this week.
Research published in the Economic Journal by Shang and Croson found that simply showing donors that other people had contributed increased giving likelihood by 30%.
Thirty percent. And the effect was strongest when the "others" were similar to the potential donor, same community, same age group, same connection to the cause.
This isn't peer pressure. It's social validation. We look to other people to understand what's appropriate, what's expected, what's meaningful.
Now, here's the practical takeaway. Display donor counts on your campaigns.
Something as simple as "Join 28 donors who gave this month" can move the needle.
Use testimonials from relatable, everyday donors, not just your major gift stories.
And consider creating giving challenges where donors can see real-time participation from people like them.
The bottom line is that donors give to organizations, but they are deeply influenced by people.
When we look at what changed this week, there are federal policy shifts happening right now that require your attention.
Maryland Nonprofits published an update outlining new federal policy changes that could impact nonprofit operations and fundraising.
Now, the specifics vary by subsector and geography, but the broader trend is clear.
There is increased regulatory attention on how nonprofits operate, and these changes often come with both compliance requirements and, I should mention, potential funding opportunities.
Organizations that stay informed can navigate challenges while capitalizing on new possibilities.
Organizations that don't pay attention end up scrambling.
Now, why does this matter for you specifically?
Because policy changes can affect everything from your tax-exempt status requirements to how you report donor data to what funding streams are available.
Your move here is pretty straightforward. Subscribe to policy alerts from your state nonprofit association if you haven't already.
Assign someone on your team to monitor changes relevant to your mission area.
And budget for potential compliance adjustments in your next fiscal planning cycle.
Don't get caught off guard. All right, the bottom line for this week's State of Good Report.
So if you remember one thing, this is it.
The fundraising landscape right now is demanding a sophisticated balance, between personalization and privacy in AI adoption, between donor acquisition and retention in a shrinking donor pool, and between innovation and risk management in your operations.
Success comes not from choosing one side or the other but from thoughtful integration.
Here are three things you can think about doing this week.
One, conduct an AI readiness assessment. Before you adopt new tools, evaluate your current data governance and create ethical guidelines for how you'll use AI in your fundraising.
Even a one-page document is better than nothing.
Number two, launch a mid-level donor retention initiative.
Identify your $500 to $5,000 donors and create a targeted engagement plan for the next quarter.
Give them something that feels personal. And third, subscribe to policy updates from your state nonprofit association and schedule a compliance review before the end of this quarter.
Make sure someone on your team owns this.
And we'll finish with our good in action segment.
This is also my favorite part. It reminds us that there is so much good happening in the world today still, and it reminds us about why we do this work.
A food bank in Texas discovered that their best donors weren't who they expected.
By analyzing giving patterns, they identified a group of mid-level donors who had been giving steadily for years but had never received personalized attention.
These weren't major donors making five-figure gifts. These were families giving $500 to $1,000 annually.
So the food bank created what they called a "Sustainer Circle" for these mid-level supporters, with quarterly impact calls and first-look opportunities at new programs.
And I love this. Within six months, retention in that group jumped 40%, and average gifts increased by $200.
More importantly, three of those donors became monthly givers at higher levels, and one made their first five-figure gift.
Here's the lesson that I think we can take away from this.
Sometimes the biggest fundraising opportunities aren't in finding new donors or landing mega gifts.
They're in better serving the committed supporters you already have.
That food bank didn't need a bigger net.
They needed to take better care of the fish already in the boat.
All right, that's the State of Good Report for March 30th, 2026.
The full report with all the links and sources is available at purecharity.
com. And if this has been helpful, I would ask you to share this with a colleague who could use it.
Again, my name is Mike Rush, and we'll check back in next week.
Until then, thank you for doing the difficult and necessary work of creating the state of good.