A Year of Nimble Agility — and Why the Stakes Are Higher Than Ever

It was January 2025. Just days after the inauguration.

The pace of change accelerated almost immediately. Policy conversations shifted, funding priorities were revisited, and organizations across the nonprofit sector began reassessing assumptions that had guided planning only months earlier. Decisions were happening faster, timelines compressed, and the margin for delay narrowed quickly.

Within weeks, those shifts became operational. Funding changed. Programs were reevaluated. Staffing and resource decisions followed. External forces created immediate internal impact, requiring organizations to adapt in real time while continuing to deliver on their missions.

In that environment, fundraising took on greater weight. Not simply as a growth function, but as a stabilizer. A protector of continuity. A way to maintain trust and connection while organizations navigated uncertainty. Plans evolved. Timelines shifted. The ability to respond thoughtfully, without losing focus or integrity, became essential.

Looking back, the defining theme of the year was nimble agility. As we turn the final corner of 2025, many nonprofits have moved through a period of sustained change and emerged with greater resilience, clarity, and a stronger foundation for what comes next. And as we look ahead, it’s important to be honest about what is at stake.

For years, the sector has been navigating a familiar dynamic: fewer donors giving more money. That concentration of generosity has helped many organizations maintain revenue thresholds, even as overall donor counts declined. But it has also introduced risk. When a growing share of revenue comes from a smaller cohort of donors, volatility increases, and durability decreases.

In recent months, we’ve begun to see signs of softening in some mid-level programs. The reasons are complex and interconnected: a volatile economy, geopolitical uncertainty, evolving tax considerations, and an increasingly competitive landscape that is forcing donors to be more selective about where—and how often—they give. At the same time, donors are inundated. On many days, they receive multiple appeals across channels from different organizations, often competing for attention in the same moment.

Layered on top of this is something harder to quantify but impossible to ignore: compassion fatigue. The volume and intensity of crisis, devastation, and urgent need that donors have been asked to respond to over time has increased significantly. Eventually, many donors reach a point where they feel they cannot help everyone. When compassion begins to wane and is replaced by apathy, the impact on fundraising, and on missions, is far more dangerous.

This is why the conversation about change can no longer be theoretical.

The need to evolve is not a “maybe.” It has to happen. The sector cannot continue doing what it has done for decades and expect new or better results. In truth, many organizations cannot even continue doing the same things and expect the same results, because the environment has fundamentally changed.

As we look toward the future, progress cannot be defined as a single initiative or a dramatic overhaul. It must be an ongoing process of evolution—one that simplifies where complexity has crept in, strengthens donor relationships, and ensures every interaction is intentional and relevant. Sometimes that progress is incremental. Other times it requires letting go of approaches that no longer serve the mission to make room for something better.

This kind of work requires discipline. It requires a tolerance for learning and a willingness to act on what the data and the donors are telling us. Most importantly, it requires acknowledging that standing still is no longer neutral. In today’s environment, inaction carries its own risk.

As we head into 2026, the opportunity is clear, and so is the responsibility. The path forward is not about doing more for the sake of it. It is about clarity over complexity. Relationships over volume. And thoughtful, human-centered progress that allows organizations not just to survive, but to remain relevant and sustainable in a world that will continue to demand change.

So while the journey may be windy, the imperative is clear. We are ready!