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The Status of ANZ Fundraising
Read an excerpt from our 5th edition report
Excerpt Content
Introduction
Now in its fifth year, the annual Status of ANZ Fundraising Report explores the evolving dynamics of nonprofit fundraising. These year-over-year insights show emerging trends, persistent challenges, and new opportunities, helping organisations to understand and benchmark their performance and make more informed strategic decisions.
This year’s research reflects the perspectives of hundreds of professionals across Australia and New Zealand from diverse backgrounds, organisations, and career paths who participated in the research and shared their unique insights into the factors shaping the local social impact community in 2026.
Each year, the research focuses on key trends or changes impacting the sector—alongside evaluating sector performance, opportunities for growth, and, more recently, organisations’ digital transformation. In 2026, we continue the AI deep dive to understand attitudes towards AI, levels of adoption, concerns and challenges, and the cultures organisations are building around AI use.
The Status of ANZ Fundraising report is part of Blackbaud’s global Status of Fundraising research series, surveying audiences in Australia and New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Before diving into the results, we also want to say a massive thank you to our data analyst and market researcher, Susie Mullen, whose help has been invaluable.
Sector Performance: Finding Purpose and Driving Impact
Survey participants were asked to share their organisations’ recent performance in order to benchmark how the ANZ nonprofit sector’s performance is trending year-over-year. Importantly, we also wanted to find out what are the biggest motivators for those working in the sector.
Nonprofit professionals want to be part of a positive impact.
Participants were asked to share, in their own words, what they enjoy most about working in the nonprofit sector to identify their core values, motivations, and sources of fulfilment that drive professionals, even as the sector changes.
Making a difference or positive impact is the biggest motivator for those working in the sector, and 63% of all respondents talk about the positive impact of their work. Sense of purpose or fulfilment is also a key motivator, and many discuss the importance of helping others.
Most nonprofits meet or exceed their fundraising targets.
At 57%, nearly two-thirds of ANZ nonprofits report they achieved their targets, with 29% exceeding and 28% just meeting them. Just over a third failed to reach their goals, and 8% did not set a target at all—decreasing from 14% last year.
While the data does not delve into how targets are set or their level of ambition, it offers a valuable directional trend when viewed in combination with findings on positive income performance.
“I enjoy most the opportunity to create meaningful change at the grassroots level seeing real lives improve through our work and building lasting partnerships with people who genuinely care about making the world more just and compassionate.”
Which best describes your organisation’s fundraising performance over the last full financial year?
our fundraising target
fundraising target
fundraising target
target
Recent income performance shows fewer declines and more stability.
In line with the findings on fundraising targets, when we look at voluntary income performance over the last full financial year, the sector shows signs of resilience and stability. The proportion of organisations reporting income declines has gradually dropped over the past three years—from 35% in 2024 to 28% in 2025, and now 24% in 2026. At the same time, more charities are experiencing stability, with 33% reporting unchanged income.
Lastly, the majority report their voluntary income increased in the last full financial year at 44%. Together, these findings indicate positive and stable sector income performance as 77% of participants have either experienced growth or had a stable income performance.
When exploring these findings further, we could identify that income changes are linked to organisation size. Larger charities lead the way in growth, with 56% reporting an increase in income compared to the sector average of 44%. Conversely, those with an income under $1M are more likely to report income decline.
Thinking about the last full financial year, how did your organisation’s voluntary income change, compared with the year before?
2025
2026
income decreased
income remained the same
income increased
Innovation and exceptional gifts drive growth in the sector.
When drilling deeper into those 44% of organisations whose income increased in the last full financial year, we can identify drivers behind income growth. For the fourth year in a row, exceptional gifts rank highest even though fewer participants now attribute their growth to these major gifts. When asked what the main drivers of their organisation’s income growth were—selecting all drivers that apply—nearly half selected exceptional gifts at 44%.
While exceptional gifts evidently drive growth, the same number of participants at 44% attribute their income growth to innovation or new and different activity. The number of respondents reporting new or different activity has helped them grow has increased from 19% in 2025 to 44% in 2026. Supporter experience is also important with 34% choosing it as a growth driver, up slightly from 32% in 2025.
These findings suggest that these successful organisations are not necessarily focusing on encouraging more people to give, or existing donors to give more, but improving their supporter experience and investing in innovations, tools, or strategies that enable more meaningful connections and deeper engagement.
What do you think were the main drivers of your organisation’s income growth?
2025
2026
Key driver analysis confirms the importance of size to income growth.
A key driver analysis was conducted to identify which variables explain change in a specified variable—in this case, income growth. Multiple variables were tested in the model, and the results give us three variables that have the most impact on income growth:
Organisation size is, by far, the most important variable driving growth, accounting for 48 % of the variance in income growth.
Breadth of AI usage accounts for 22% of the variance— revealing that organisations that use AI across more tasks are more likely to grow.
Digital maturity also accounts for a small 4% of the variance, contributing a small but meaningful uplift to income.
These drivers will be explored in greater detail as we delve deeper into the report.
Organisation size is, by far, the most important variable driving growth, accounting for 72% of the variance in income growth.
Digital maturity accounts for 23% of the variance—but even moderate digital maturity is beneficial, indicating that digital maturity is an enabler of growth.
Major donor capability also accounts for a small 4% of the variance, contributing a small but meaningful uplift to income.