Some fundraising growth is real. Some of it is just a strong quarter wearing a long-term disguise.
On Wednesday, September 2, 2026, that distinction matters. The Fundraising Effectiveness Project reported on July 29, 2026 that Q1 2026 dollars rose 4.3% year over year while donor count still fell 0.8%. The same release showed a broader mix of Small, Midsize, Major, and Supersize donors growing, but retention softening across every one of those segments except Micro donors.
That is exactly the kind of pattern a growth stick rate report is built to catch.
A growth stick rate report helps nonprofit teams answer a practical question: did our recent fundraising lift create donor behavior that will still be helping us 60, 90, or 180 days from now?
That is a more useful question than asking whether revenue was up last month. A short-term revenue increase can come from a few upgraded gifts, a year-end pull-forward, a single campaign spike, or donors who never come back.
If you want a healthier donor file by year-end, you need to know whether growth is sticking.
What is a growth stick rate report?
A growth stick rate report measures how much of a recent fundraising gain turns into durable donor behavior instead of fading out after the first bump.
It does not replace your campaign report or revenue dashboard. It sits one step later and asks whether the lift held.
A good version of the report usually tracks four things together:
- Donor persistence: How many of the donors behind a recent lift gave again inside your next measurement window?
- Dollar persistence: How much of the added revenue showed up again without needing the same unusual conditions?
- Segment durability: Which donor tiers held their gains and which slipped back?
- Conversion carryover: Whether new donors moved toward a second gift or a monthly commitment after the initial response.
Put simply, the report asks whether growth became behavior.
Why this matters right now
The latest FEP findings are useful because they show how easy it is to misread improvement.
The sector’s Q1 2026 picture looked better than the same quarter a year earlier. Donor decline narrowed, and growth was less concentrated at the very top of the file. That is encouraging.
But the same data also said the stabilization was led by existing donors while new donor counts continued to decline. Aggregate retention held roughly flat at 18.0%, and segment-level retention softened across Small, Midsize, Major, and Supersize donors. In other words, the quarter looked stronger, but not every part of that strength was proving durable yet.
GivingTuesday’s May 2026 recurring-giving research points to a similar lesson. The share of donors on recurring schedules rose from 6.6% in 2021 to 7.9% in 2025, but the median organization still had only about 4% of donors on recurring schedules in 2025. Even more striking, at least half of organizations acquired no new recurring donors in a given year.
That means many organizations are benefiting from recurring donors they converted years ago, not from a reliable new flow of fresh recurring starts.
Again, growth can be present without being self-renewing.
The reporting mistake this fixes
Many teams stop their analysis at lift.
Revenue was up. Midsize donor count improved. The campaign beat last year. A monthly-giving message outperformed the control. Those are useful signals, but they do not tell you whether the gain created a stronger donor file.
That blind spot leads to three common mistakes:
- Over-crediting a single campaign: A short spike gets treated as a repeatable system improvement.
- Reallocating budget too early: Teams move money or attention before they know whether the lift can hold.
- Missing the real follow-up job: New donors and upgraded donors get counted, but not stewarded toward the next action that would make the growth last.
A growth stick rate report slows that down just enough to protect better decisions.
The five fields every growth stick rate report should include
| Field | What to measure | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Lift cohort | The donors or revenue sources that created the original gain | Keeps the report tied to a real bump instead of general file movement |
| Repeat window | Whether those donors gave again within 30, 60, 90, or 180 days | Shows whether the lift turned into ongoing behavior |
| Recurring conversion | How many first-time or one-time donors became monthly donors after the lift | Captures the highest-value form of carryover |
| Segment retention drift | Retention change for Micro, Small, Midsize, Major, and Supersize donors tied to the lift period | Prevents broad-looking growth from hiding weak loyalty |
| Revenue concentration | How much of the lift came from a few donors or gifts | Separates durable broadening from fragile dependence |
How to calculate a simple growth stick rate
You do not need a perfect model to start. Use one cohort and one follow-up window.
Here is a practical version:
Growth stick rate = donors from the lift period who complete a second meaningful action inside your chosen window / total donors in the lift cohort
That second meaningful action could be:
- a second gift
- a monthly-giving start
- an upgraded gift above your baseline threshold
- a retained gift in the next comparable campaign
If 400 donors drove a campaign lift and 72 of them either gave again or started a monthly gift within 90 days, your growth stick rate is 18%.
That number becomes much more useful when you split it by source, donor type, or segment size.
How to read the result
High lift, low stick
This usually means the campaign message or timing worked, but your follow-up system did not turn that moment into a relationship.
You may need a stronger welcome path, faster acknowledgment, a clearer second ask, or a better monthly-giving offer.
Moderate lift, high stick
This often signals healthier growth than a flashy spike. The first result may have looked smaller, but the donor behavior it created is more durable.
These are the patterns worth protecting before year-end gets noisy.
Broad lift, uneven stick by segment
This is where the report gets especially valuable. If Midsize and Major donors grew but their retention softened, while Micro donors remained more loyal, your next move should not be based on top-line dollars alone.
You may need one stewardship plan for Midsize donors, another for newly acquired Micro donors, and a separate recurring-upgrade strategy for first-time givers.
What teams usually discover
The most common finding is that growth did happen, just not in the way the first dashboard suggested.
Maybe a campaign produced strong revenue but weak second-gift behavior. Maybe a monthly-giving push brought in more starts, but most of them came from existing donors already close to conversion. Maybe donor counts improved in Midsize, but the lift came from one unusual week of upgrades rather than better retention. Maybe the healthiest signal came from Micro donors, who did not add much revenue immediately but held better than expected.
That is the point of the report. It helps you see which gains are structural and which are temporary.
Where ReportWerks fits
ReportWerks helps nonprofit teams connect campaign lift, donor-stage movement, recurring conversion, segment behavior, and follow-up timing in one reporting system.
That makes it easier to separate a good week from a stronger fundraising base. Instead of stopping at whether revenue moved, teams can see whether the donors behind the movement stayed active, converted, or faded back out.
Build this before year-end pressure rises
If the second half of 2026 becomes tougher than the first, as FEP’s July 29, 2026 analysis warned could happen, the teams that win will not just be the ones with the biggest spike days. They will be the teams that know how to turn lift into lasting donor behavior.
Start with one recent bump. Pick one follow-up window. Track whether those donors came back, converted, or stayed engaged.
That first version will tell you much more than a victory slide.
Want a clearer way to see whether growth is really sticking across campaigns, donor stages, and recurring conversion? ReportWerks helps nonprofit teams turn fundraising lift into reporting they can actually act on.
Frequently asked questions
What is a growth stick rate report?
A growth stick rate report shows whether a recent fundraising lift turned into durable donor behavior like repeat gifts, recurring starts, or retained segment growth.
Why is donor growth not the same as donor retention?
Because donor counts or revenue can rise for a short period even if the donors behind that increase do not stay active long enough to strengthen the file.
What should nonprofits measure after a strong fundraising quarter?
Measure repeat giving, recurring conversion, segment retention drift, and revenue concentration for the cohort that created the original gain.
How does this help before year-end fundraising?
It shows which recent gains are likely to hold into the year-end season and which ones need stronger stewardship or follow-up before pressure increases.
