--- title: RKD's 2026 Mid-Year Animal Welfare Benchmark description: RKD Group's 2026 Mid-Year Animal Welfare Benchmark reveals record revenue alongside declining donor numbers, insights on fundraising trends, and strategies for sustainable growth. image: https://info.rkdgroup.com/hubfs/Open%20Graph_Animal%20Welfare-1.png --- Theme + Migration = $1489 (Pay for the Theme Only). [Learn More.](https://www.lpd-themes.com/migration) [![logo-rkd](https://info.rkdgroup.com/hubfs/Assets/logo-rkd.svg "logo-rkd")](https://rkdgroup.com/) [Contact Us](https://current.rkdgroup.com/lets-chat/) [![logo-rkd](https://info.rkdgroup.com/hubfs/Assets/logo-rkd.svg "logo-rkd")](https://rkdgroup.com/) [Contact Us](https://current.rkdgroup.com/lets-chat/) [![logo-rkd](https://info.rkdgroup.com/hubfs/Assets/logo-rkd.svg "logo-rkd")](https://rkdgroup.com/) [Contact Us](https://current.rkdgroup.com/lets-chat/) [![logo-rkd](https://info.rkdgroup.com/hubfs/Assets/logo-rkd.svg "logo-rkd")](https://rkdgroup.com/) [Contact Us](https://current.rkdgroup.com/lets-chat/) # 2026 Mid-Year Animal Welfare Benchmark Contents #### [Introduction](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#Introduction) - [A note from RKD's Animal Welfare Team](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#Note) - [Top takeaways](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#Takeaways) - [RKD's recommendations](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#Recommendations) - [Looking ahead](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#looking-ahead) - [About the report](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#About-report) #### [Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#kpis) - [Revenue](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#revenue) - [Active Donors](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#donor-counts) - [Donor Retention](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#donor-growth) - [Revenue Per Donor](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#revenue-per-donor) - [Gift Frequency](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#gift-frequency) - [Average Gift](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#average-gift) - [Monthly Giving](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#monthly-giving) - [Monthly Donors](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#monthly-giving-donors) #### [About RKD Group](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#about-rkd) Download the PDF   # We’ve mastered depth. Scale is our next opportunity. Animal Welfare is growing. The next opportunity is growing the base. At first glance, the first half of 2026 looks like a step back. Revenue across 79 animal welfare organizations came in 13.7% below 2025. Read only that line and you would conclude the cause is in retreat. But 2025 was an extraordinary year for major gifts, and 2026 is being measured against it. At $167.8 million, major gifts in 2026 remain the second-highest total in the decade. That marks a return to a rising trend line after last year’s peak. In fact, nearly every metric we track moved up. Revenue under $10,000 grew for a third straight year. Mid-level giving set an all-time high. Monthly giving revenue and donors both reached new records. Revenue per donor rose for a sixth consecutive year, gift frequency hit a 10-year high, and donor retention improved for a third straight year. That last figure deserves attention. Retention is the hardest number in fundraising to move, and animal welfare organizations have moved it three years running. The relationship-building is working. The clear opportunity is the size of the file. Inflation shows why it’s worth the investment. Total revenue is up 27.4% over 2021 in real, adjusted dollars, and mid-level giving is up 30.8%—genuine, inflation-proof growth. General gifts under $1,000, meanwhile, are down 5.9% in real terms, and the average gift is essentially flat over five years, down 0.9% once inflation is applied. Depth has carried animal welfare a long way. Breadth is the lever that hasn't been pulled yet. This is not unique to this cause. Across RKD’s full 219-organization benchmark, revenue reached a record high while active donors fell 2.0% and the average gift lost 8.3% of its purchasing power against 2021. We saw similar findings in the latest reports from [Giving USA](https://apnews.com/article/giving-usa-report-philanthropy-2025-8363b76bc8cf854f6865c31129e8a4b1) and the [Fundraising Effectiveness Project.](https://thenonprofittimes.com/npt_articles/fewer-donors-more-dollars-new-methodology-at-fep/) More dollars, fewer donors, less real value per gift is the defining pattern of this moment—and animal welfare organizations are navigating it better than most. We’ve proven we can deepen relationships. The next step in growth comes from investing in acquisition to rebuild the top of the funnel that feeds those relationships. *—Dustin Riddle, Senior Vice President, Client Partnership* --- ## Top 3 takeaways:   1 Mid-level giving is growing faster than anything else. Mid-level giving ($1,000–$9,999) now accounts for 42.2% of giving under $10,000, and it just set an all-time high in its sixth consecutive year of growth. Upgrade paths are working, and the donors moving through them are producing durable, inflation-beating revenue. The opportunity now is applying that same discipline further down the file. 2 Retention is up three straight years. Acquisition is the next lever. Retention has climbed 6.6 points since 2023, from 38.2% to 44.8%—three consecutive years of gains in the single hardest metric in fundraising to move. That progress proves the relationship work is landing. The next gain sits at the top of the funnel. With retention now trending reliably upward, every new and reactivated donor added compounds further than it would have three years ago. 3 Monthly giving is the most dependable growth engine. Since 2021, the monthly giving base has grown 45.9% to a record 63,507 donors. Sustainers now make up 16.5% of all donors and carry 14.8% of revenue under $10,000, up from 11.1% in 2021. Recurring revenue and recurring donors have grown every year in this dataset. --- Strategic recommendations  How to close out 2026 strong.   1\.  Invest in acquisition and reactivation now  The largest untapped asset is already in the file. Roughly 215,000 donors who gave last year have not yet given in 2026—warm names, twice the size of this year's new-donor class and cheaper to convert than cold prospects. Fund a dedicated lapsed campaign this fourth quarter while also pushing more in acquisition after a strong year. 2\. Double down on the mid-level pipeline Mid-level giving is in its sixth straight year of growth and just set a revenue record. It is the safest place to put fourth-quarter effort and can fund the acquisition investment. Identify every donor who gave $500 or more in the last 12 months, assign personal stewardship, and make a specific upgrade ask before Dec. 31.   3\. Make monthly giving the primary ask in year-end campaigns Sustainer participation is at a record rate (and still climbing), and recurring revenue is growing faster than any other line. Target single-gift donors with two or more gifts in the past year, put a monthly option in the primary or co-primary position on donation pages, and set the default amount against the current $33.27 average rather than a legacy figure. Looking ahead to 2030   1\. Turn retention gains into a decade-long advantage Retention has improved three consecutive years to 44.8%, which proves the model works—yet room for more gains remain. The math is favorable: Every point of retention is worth roughly 3,900 donors a year. Craft first-year welcome journeys and second-gift programs, treat reactivation as a permanent program, and set a 2030 target above 50%. 2\. Build a file plan alongside the revenue plan Animal welfare organizations have grown revenue impressively across the decade. The next step is making that growth durable by measuring the file with equal rigor. Set explicit 2030 targets for active donors, new donors and reactivated donors alongside the revenue goal, and report all four monthly. 3\. Formalize the path from mid-level to major Mid-level and monthly giving are already performing well. We’ve hit records in both, with six and nine consecutive growth years respectively. The pipeline is in place, so it’s critical to define the mid-to-major transition with named owners, qualification criteria and a review cadence, so major gift growth is fed by the file rather than episodic. Staying on the current trajectory puts sustainers near 24% of donors by 2030. Target 25%, and you’ll have the funding foundation in place to fuel your investment in file growth that builds a sustainable engine. --- ## About the report   What we measured  The 2026 Mid-Year Benchmark Report | Animal Welfare contains full-file data from 79 RKD clients throughout the U.S, with data through June 30, 2026. Contributions of $10,000 or more are analyzed separately as noted, to better inform growth from this critical relational segment of supporters.   Comparisons from year to year are by year-to-date data. Inflation calculations used data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ [CPI Inflation Calculator](https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm).      ## Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) - [Revenue](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#revenue) - [Active donors](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#Active-donors) - [Revenue per active donor](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#Revenue-per-active-donor) - [Average gift](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#Average-gift) - [Gift frequency](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-animal-welfare-benchmarks#Gift-frequency) ### Overall revenue hits second-highest mark since 2018   Revenue totaled $247.3 million, down 13.7% from 2025 but the second-highest first half since 2018. Compared to 2018, revenue is up 62.4% (up 22.5% after inflation). The year-over-year decline sits entirely in major gifts measured against last year's exceptional peak. Every other category grew. This shows that 2025 was the outlier, not 2026.  ### Revenue for gifts under $10K up 6.7%     Excluding major gifts, revenue reached $79.5 million, up 6.7% over 2025 in a third consecutive year of growth and 38.6% above 2018.   However, inflation tells a flatter story: just 4.6% real growth over 2018. The everyday-donor base is holding, not gaining. ### Mid-level hits an all-time high of $33.5 million     Mid-level revenue ($1,000–$9,999) set an all-time high of $33.5 million, up 11.8% over 2025 and growing for a sixth straight year. It’s up 30.8% over 2021 after inflation, the strongest real growth of any gift band, and now represents 13.6% of total revenue. ### Major gifts hold at $167.8 million, the second-highest in a decade     Major gifts ($10,000+) totaled $167.8 million, down 20.9% from 2025's peak but 34.0% above 2024 and 76.8% above 2018 (up 33.4% after inflation).  Major gifts make up 67.9% of all revenue halfway through 2026 ### Active donors slip 1.0% to a 10-year low   Active donors fell 1.0%, the smallest file in 10 years and 7.6% below 2021. It was the mild decline, but the direction has been consistent: revenue growth is coming from getting more out of the file, not from expanding it. ### Donor retention improves to 44.8%   Retention rose to 44.8%, a third consecutive year of improvement and 11.2% above 2018. This mark still trails food banks (55.3%), missions (57.3%) and humanitarian organizations (52.7%), making retention an untapped growth lever in animal welfare. ### Donor value climbs 7.8% to $205.48   Revenue per active donor rose 7.8% to $205.48, a sixth straight year of growth and 42.4% above 2018 (up 7.4% after inflation). Animal welfare organizations are generating more value per supporter than they did before the pandemic. ### Gift frequency sets a 10-year high at 2.2   Gift frequency reached a 10-year high of 2.2 gifts per donor, up 4.8% over 2025 and 22.2% over 2018. Rising sustainer participation is the main driver. Monthly donors generate multiple gifts by definition, pulling the file average up as their share grows. ### Average gift edges up to $91.81   The average gift rose 3.5% to $91.81, a fifth consecutive increase and 12.3% above 2018. But inflation reverses it. Average gift is down 15.3% versus 2018 and 0.9% versus 2021 in real dollars. Ask arrays have not kept pace with prices. ### Monthly giving revenue sets a record   Recurring revenue set an all-time high of $11.8 million, up 15.3% over 2025 and 159.8% over 2018. This mark is even up 96.1% over 2018 after inflation, the strongest real growth of any metric measured. Monthly giving has grown in every year of the dataset and is compounding at 12.7% annually since 2018. ### Monthly giving donors reach a record 63,507   Recurring donors hit an all-time high of 63,507, up 7.6% over 2025 and 107.8% over 2018, a 9.6% compound annual growth rate. Animal welfare organizations more than doubled their sustainer base in eight years while the overall files held roughly flat. ### Monthly giving average gift rises to a record $33.27   The average recurring gift rose 3.0% to an all-time high of $33.27, up 12.9% over 2019 but down 9.5% versus 2021 in real dollars. Sustainer growth is coming from more donors rather than larger commitments, which leaves upgrade revenue on the table. ### Monthly giving is now 16.5% of donors   Sustainers reached an all-time high 16.5% of active donors, up from 7.7% in 2018 and 10.4% in 2021. One in six animal welfare donors now gives monthly, and the share has risen every year since 2022. ### Monthly giving is now 14.8% of revenue under $10K   Recurring gifts now supply an all-time high 14.8% of revenue under $10,000, up from 7.9% in 2018. This is the line carrying an increasing share of the everyday-donor base, and it marks a substantial shift in the makeup of the donor file. ## Donor growth ### See how other causes performed Access Report [Animal Care](https://info.rkdgroup.com/the-2025-animal-care-benchmark-report-access) Access Report [Food Bank](https://info.rkdgroup.com/the-2025-food-bank-benchmark-report-access) Access Report [Missions](https://info.rkdgroup.com/the-2025-rescue-mission-benchmark-report-access) Access Report [Health & Hospitals](https://info.rkdgroup.com/the-2025-health-and-hospitals-benchmark-report-access) Access Report [Humanitarian Action](https://info.rkdgroup.com/the-2025-humanitarian-action-benchmark-report-access) ### About RKD Group Founded in 1970 to serve the needs of nonprofit clients, [RKD Group](https://rkdgroup.com/) is a leading fundraising and marketing firm serving mission-driven organizations across the United States and Canada. The first agency to identify and adapt to the changes in technology and culture that impact philanthropy, RKD helps organizations including Susan G. Komen, The Salvation Army, The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, Toys for Tots, Feed the Children, Guide Dogs for the Blind, Food Bank for New York City, and more grow through integrated fundraising strategy, omnichannel marketing, analytics, donor engagement, creative services, and digital transformation. ## Want more? ### Sign up today to receive a full breakdown of data for each cause. ### See how other sectors performed Access Report [Food Bank](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-food-bank-benchmark) Access Report [Missions](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-missions-benchmark) Access Report [Overall Benchmark](https://info.rkdgroup.com/2026-mid-year-benchmarks) ## © RKD Group. All rights reserved. [Privacy Policy](https://rkdgroup.com/privacy-policy/)