2026 Nonprofits Outlook: Meleah Spencer

Spencer’s 2026 Projection: Nonprofits will continue to meet rising community needs while navigating funding uncertainty and affordability pressures. The path forward will require focus, strong leadership and smart collaboration across sectors. Communities that show up for one another, quickly and collectively, will define what resilience looks like in 2026.

Data from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project show an increase in total dollars raised in 2025 compared to 2024 – driven by larger gifts – but a decrease in the total number of donors, particularly among smallest-dollar donors. Have you seen this locally?
Yes, and that is a trend that we have been seeing in fundraising overall. It is not a surprising trend to us. I think, though, what we see in our donors is that they give because they have the philanthropic heart to the mission and the cause. They are not giving necessarily to get the tax break. They want to have a relationship – how can they utilize a skill set to help the nonprofit succeed? We have to do a better job of listening to the great talent pool out there.

How do you think nonprofits will be affected by the tax implications in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act?
I think it’s up to us as nonprofits to make sure that we educate our donors to let them know about some of the tax advantages for those that could take advantage. That could be new for them starting in 2026. Overall, I think that it will not have a major effect on our fundraising. Donors give because of their connection to our mission.

The Center for Effective Philanthropy indicates staffing shortages are a challenge and burnout is a top concern. Do you see those issues continuing?
Workforce sustainability is definitely one of our greatest challenges. There’s this idea that investing in staff is overhead in our sector, and that’s part of the problem. We have to change that thinking, and then we can start changing that workforce sustainability. We have to also prioritize leadership development and have realistic compensation strategies. And then we’re going to have to have an internal system that supports long-term retention, because we cannot solve all these complex community issues if our nonprofit workforce is constantly stretched thin. The strong nonprofits are going to recognize that caring for staff is not separate from our mission – it’s going to be foundational to it.

Do you think these challenges have accelerated over the past few years, or are they a long-standing issue?
Burnout has always been there. However, it has increased because our need for services continues to rise, and we continue to have affordability challenges.

What are the top challenges facing nonprofits?
Federal funding uncertainty, economic uncertainty and our workforce sustainability. Nonprofits represent more than 5% of GDP and almost 10% of the workforce. We serve as an essential economic infrastructure, and yet we remain chronically undercapitalized.

What do you see working well in the nonprofit sector?
We can look back at what happened in 2025 with the government shutdown and be really proud and see that what worked well is how our community mobilized in the face of the federal funding pause and the government delays that affected food insecurities and access to benefits. We saw nonprofits, local government, businesses and volunteers all rally together, and they didn’t just fill the gaps. They innovated new ways of meeting the need.