What Donors Really Think: Key Takeaways from the 2026 Donor Trust Report

Every year, BBB’s Give.org releases its Donor Trust Report, and every year it tells us something we need to hear. The 2026 edition is no different. Based on a December 2025 survey of more than 1,500 U.S. adults, this report now spans nine years of data. It tracks how donors think about trust, where they give, and what moves them to act.

Here are the numbers, and, more importantly, what they mean for your organization.

The Trust Gap Is Real

This is the finding that surprised me the most. Nearly 68% of donors say it is essential to trust a charity before they give. But only 18% report having high trust in charities.

First, my assumption is that 100% of donors would say it’s essential to trust a charity before they give. But as the report explains, both expectations and perceptions of trust are shaped by age and experience. Second, and more importantly, more than two-thirds of your donors require trust before writing a check, and fewer than one in five say they have it.

That gap has persisted for nine years. It is not a blip. It’s a problem in how the sector communicates with the people who fund it. And it represents a clear opportunity in nonprofit fundraising right now.

Trust Varies by Cause Area

Interestingly, not all organizations face the same challenge. The report measured trust across 13 charity categories, and high trust increased in 12 of them between 2024 and 2025. Animal welfare and environmental organizations saw the biggest gains.

Over the longer nine-year arc, four categories experienced fluctuations of at least seven percentage points: civil rights and community action, veterans, religious, and environmental organizations. If you work in one of these areas, you know how external events shape donor perception. Your credibility is not built solely within your organization; it’s influenced by everything happening in the world around your cause.

Compared to business, media, and government, charities consistently rank as the most trustworthy sector. That’s a finding I expected and one we must continue to protect.

Generational Differences Matter More Than You Think

Younger donors trust charities more quickly than older donors do. But older donors place greater importance on trust as a precondition for giving. That helps provide a distinction for how we communicate across generations.

Gen Alpha and Gen Z donors report the highest overall trust levels. Boomers and Matures are more likely to say trust is non-negotiable before they give. It’s fair to say major gift donors skew older, and new donors entering the pipeline skew younger. The challenge organizations have is addressing both distinctly, often through disparate channels.

On solicitation openness, 42% of respondents say they are open to being approached by charities, a figure that ranks second only to the previous year over the nine-year survey period. Younger donors are substantially more open to outreach. Older donors are more likely to say they are already approached too much. Another reminder of the importance of donor retention, long-term stewardship, and relationship building.

How Donors Want to Give

When asked to identify the top three most impactful ways to make a difference, donors ranked donating items first at 58%, followed by volunteering time at 48%, and donating money at 45%. This remains consistent with prior years, but, from my observation, it hasn’t moved the needle much in organizations creating mission-immersion opportunities at scale.

For development professionals, this matters. Donors don’t automatically see writing a check as the most meaningful form of giving. When we ask for money without connecting it to tangible impact, we’re fighting against how donors already think about their contributions. We need to show them what their dollars do in the real world.

Digital Giving Is Growing

The top donation channel in 2025 was a charity’s own website at 33%, followed by checkout counter contributions at 23% and cause-related purchases at 21%. Over nine years, giving through charity websites has grown steadily while direct mail appeal response rates have declined. I tend to look at this number sideways. Yes, mail is declining, but I believe that’s intentional as we’re driving donors to our landing pages and websites more efficiently. And while point-of-sale roundup campaigns are increasing, I find this more informative about donor behavior and increased corporate engagement than hard data that all nonprofits can use to increase giving. I haven’t searched for the studies, but I suspect that some nonprofits’ share of the checkout-counter round-up donation efforts has diminished, from being the charity of choice to being the charity of the month for some corporate partnership campaigns.

Fundraising events have also rebounded since the pandemic, which is encouraging for organizations that depend on them as both a revenue and engagement strategy.

Generational differences in giving channels are significant. Younger donors lean toward social media appeals and crowdfunding. Older donors still respond to mail. Another reminder that a one-channel strategy leaves money on the table.

Donors Are Doing Their Homework

59% of respondents say they usually ask questions or look for information before making a charitable contribution. Among those who research before giving, charity websites are the top source of influence at 54%, followed by third-party charity evaluators at 39%, direct questions to the charity at 36%, and general web searches at 35%.

The takeaway for me is that our websites are not brochures. It is our primary trust-building tool. If it doesn’t clearly answer the questions a motivated donor is asking, we are losing gifts.

One emerging finding worth watching: AI summaries were included in the survey for the first time in 2025 and ranked as the least influential information source at just 7%. That number will not stay low. As donors increasingly turn to AI tools to research organizations, the quality and clarity of an organization’s public-facing content will determine what those tools say about you. And as emerging AI experts are beginning to agree, content creation through blogs and online articles is about to see a resurgence as the content feeds AI and, in some cases, levels the SEO game.

 

The Bottom Line

The 2026 Donor Trust Report confirms what strong fundraisers already know. Trust is the foundation. It’s not built through clever campaigns or high-volume outreach. It’s built through consistent transparency, clear communication of impact, and responsiveness to donor questions.

Younger generations are expressing genuine openness and interest in the sector. That’s great news. But openness isn’t the same as commitment. Our job is to close the gap between a donor who wants to trust us and one who does.

Start with the website. Be clear about what you do, who you serve, and what a gift accomplishes. Get evaluated by a third-party accountability organization. Ask donors what questions they have before they give. And engage them more fully in the mission with the intent of developing a long-term partnership.

Trust isn’t a feeling; it’s a practice. And transactions don’t automatically equal new relationships; they provide opportunities for relationships and should be measured and managed as such.

Source & Attribution

BBB’s Give.org. 2026 Donor Trust Report: Trends in Donor Trust and Perspectives. BBB Wise Giving Alliance (BBB WGA), 2026. Survey conducted December 2025 with 1,500+ U.S. adults. Available at: give.org.

This post summarizes key findings from the report. All statistics cited are drawn directly from the published 2026 Donor Trust Report. Gary Cole and The Philanthropic Advisory have no affiliation with BBB’s Give.org or the BBB Wise Giving Alliance.

Questions or feedback? Reach Dr. Gary Cole at gary@thephilanthropicadvisory.com or visit www.thephilanthropicadvisory.com.