5 Philanthropy Trends to Watch in 2025

Insights from Grapevine’s CEO & Founder, Emily Rasmussen

As I’ve been planning for the year ahead, I’ve been thinking about what 2025 might bring for the philanthropy space. So I thought I'd share a few trends we’re watching and some thoughts on what we might see this year.

1. AI Adoption by Nonprofits

I'm excited for the expansion of AI use cases in the nonprofit and philanthropy sector, from tools for fundraisers to better identify and target donors like Momentum, to fully autonomous fundraisers like the one Givzey is developing. There are so many opportunities for AI to increase efficiency and effectiveness in the nonprofit fundraising space, while freeing up fundraisers to focus more on relationship building and the things tech can't do. Keep an eye on these innovators and others in the space!

2. Community-Centric Recurring Giving Programs for Nonprofits

Last year, Axios called Giving Circles the "fastest-growing form of philanthropy right now" based on a new landscape study in April 2024. With that news, we at Grapevine started to see many more nonprofits reaching out about how they could:

1. Connect with and get grants from existing Giving Circles.
2. Leverage Grapevine to create their own community-centric recurring donor programs (i.e. Nonprofit-led Giving Circles).

The features and programs for nonprofits we are developing are being rapidly adopted and we're excited to see how nonprofits continue to leverage this community-centric movement to support their work in 2025.

3. Donor Advised Fund (DAFs) Differentiation & Value Expansion

In 2024, I saw our friends in the DAF sector, large and small, seriously exploring how they could expand the services and value that they provide to their donors. This is great news for DAF donors, who I often hear are looking for more community, guidance, and support in moving donations to nonprofits. Since total contributions to DAFs dropped 21.7% in 2023 and with the growing number of new DAF Sponsors entering the space, I think in 2025 we will see some exciting new offerings and collaborations from the DAF community.

4. Local Giving and Tangible Impact Opportunities

There is a strong belief in the Giving Circle movement that you can amplify your impact through hyper-local models that identify and support smaller, more grassroots organizations that tend to be underfunded. Here, your dollars can go further and donors can often see the impact they're creating right in their local communities. With the elections now over and people hungry for ways to make a tangible difference, I think we're going to see even more emphasis on local giving with visible results that people can feel good about.

5. Corporate (CSR) Teams Expanding Programs to Engage Employees

Most employee giving and volunteering programs continue to struggle with engagement rates (often in the single digits), leaving many CSR leaders seeking truly meaningful ways to engage employees in social impact. At the same time, we are seeing community-led models like Giving Circles engaging a broader variety of people in giving than ever before. I think we will continue to see innovative CSR leaders explore new community-led models of giving and granting for their teams and customers.

We’ll be keeping an eye on these trends in 2025 and plan to share case studies, insights, and updates on these throughout the year. Keep an eye out for them so we can continue to learn and grow together in the new year!