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MPW's In & Out Fundraising List for 2025

MPW’s 2025 In & Out Fundraising List

Our team of experts is excited to share what we know will bring you fundraising success in 2025 and what you should leave behind in 2024. Leave us a comment below to let us know what you think is in or out in for fundraising this year!

DATE

OUT

Generic Outreach: Mass email blasts are solely generated by AI without personalization or segmentation. Taking the time to customize and personalize is almost always worth the effort.
Overreliance on Galas: High-cost fundraising events with limited ROI and simply tone-deaf to the mission and spirit of an organization.
Single-issue messaging: The messaging lacks the whole, richer picture of the organization’s impact on the community.
Print-Only Campaigns: Ignoring the digital-only donor demographic who view the paper as a waste of time and harmful to the environment
Opaque Financial Reporting: Donors expect more clarity on how funds are utilized. A simple profit and loss with assets and liabilities as a snapshot and trend is all you need.
One-Time Gifts Focus: Prioritizing new donor acquisition over long-term retention. A short-term strategy that can result in a gift but not a long-term commitment to make an impact.
Traditional “Cold Calls”: Donors increasingly prefer digital or asynchronous communication (without human interaction, perfect when someone wants a quick answer).
Ignoring Small Donors: Overemphasis on major gifts at the expense of broad support. The millionaire next store often gives test gifts or wants to see the relationship grow before considering a major gift.
Top-Down Decision-Making: Exclusion of community voices in program development.
Overlooking Gen Z Donors: Missing out on younger, cause-driven audiences by not engaging in how, when, and communications ways they respond to.
Doing more with less: There’s no such thing as 100% all the time. Burnout among fundraisers is due to too many priorities, fragmented focus, and the board’s pet projects.
Inflationary pressures: for now, prices are stable so no need to fear donor conversations . . . truth is, we should never fear conversations with donors.

IN

Impactful Storytelling: Tailored narratives that align with donor values and your organization/institution’s mission that resonate emotionally. Bonus points: segmenting the audience to improve engagement (ex., First-time donors, loyal, planned giving committed, donor’s area of interest, etc.).
Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs): Leveraging DAF growth for long-term funding strategies.
AI-Driven/Assisted Campaigns: Saving precious staff time to personalize outreach using machine learning to predict donor behavior, generate language, qualify prospects, and other ways to leverage your time.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Goals: Focused initiatives to address systemic inequities with outcomes that align with institutional goals should always be in and never out.
Recurring/Subscription Giving Programs: Subscription-style giving models for sustained engagement are used to grow the base of donors and their engagement and develop interest in major and planned giving.
Digital-First Events: Virtual events with innovative audience engagement tools that utilize the strengths of virtual engagement without being a substitute for in-person engagement.
Generative AI for Content Creation: Assist in writing grant proposals, crafting emails, and marketing content efficiently.
Climate Action Funding: Rising donor interest in addressing environmental issues, particularly in light of increased intensity and public exposure of the damage caused (ex. Los Angeles fires).
Transparency in Impact: Real-time reporting of outcomes via dashboards, scorecards,  apps, and other digital interfaces to prompt decisions and actions.
Collaboration Across Sectors: Partnerships between nonprofits, corporations, and governments for larger-scale impact.
Doing better with what you have: being more strategic, intentional, and focused.
Abundance Mind Set: concentrate on opportunities for growth and lead with optimism.
Empowering Social Media: Engage donors or prospective donors in honest conversations, polls, and invitations to become part of your organization by participation, volunteering, and of course, giving.
Donor Surveys: to understand their thoughts, feelings, and how they wish to interact with your organization.
The Rule of 95/5 is still in effect: ninety-five percent of giving will be from five percent of donors.
Growth in net worth for the top 5% wealthiest: Make sure your most capable donors know the giving opportunities available to them.
Estate giving: driven by the growth of assets/net worth over the last few years.
Corporate giving: growth in GDP and S&P+ lower taxes and more access to capital = room for philanthropy.

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Meet Lauren

Lauren Sisneros

Lauren Sisneros is the founder of LS Consultants, LLC, a consulting firm that provides strategic advising and interim management support to nonprofit and education-focused organizations. A mission-driven leader with over 20 years of experience, Lauren brings a deep commitment to advancing equity across education, workforce development, and public policy.

With a keen understanding of complex systems and a results-oriented approach, Lauren partners with organizations to develop and implement strategies that are both effective and sustainable. Through LS Consultants, she delivers hands-on guidance in program management, board and stakeholder engagement, and leadership transitions, empowering mission-aligned teams to grow, adapt, and create lasting community impact.

Lauren has collaborated with a diverse portfolio of clients, including the Prosperity Denver Fund, Contractor Academy, Education Commission of the States, and Strong Start to Finish. Her work is grounded in a strong foundation of project management, nonprofit leadership, and policy analysis.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Colorado State University–Pueblo and a Master’s in Education from Colorado State University Global. Lauren is also a proud graduate of the University of Denver’s Latino Leadership Institute, a fellowship preparing Latino professionals for positions of influence across Colorado, and the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation’s Leadership Program, an 11-month civic leadership experience.

A Colorado native born and raised in the San Luis Valley, Lauren now lives in Lakewood, Colorado. She is a proud mother of two college students and a devoted grandmother who cherishes time with her family.

Throughout her career, Lauren has remained deeply dedicated to expanding access to opportunity, especially for underserved communities. Her work continues to center on shaping systems that are inclusive, community-driven, and equity-focused.

Meet

Kyle Christensen

Kyle Christensen, M.P.A., is a program leader, facilitator, and trainer with more than 25 years of experience designing and delivering transformative learning experiences that advance leadership, civic engagement, and organizational change. He specializes in designing and evaluating leadership programs, facilitating team and organizational development, and guiding strategic planning processes that align purpose with measurable impact.

As founder of The Connected Leadership Project and consultant with Arrow Performance Group, Kyle partners with organizations such as the State of Colorado, CiviCO, and the University of Denver to design experiential leadership programs that build resilience, connection, and innovation. He also serves as program director for Leadership Veteran, an 8-month leadership initiative advancing the skills of professionals serving veteran communities.

Previously, Kyle directed Colorado State University Douglas County Extension, where he launched Colorado’s first Juntos 4-H program to expand pathways to higher education for Latinx youth and families. He also led the Family Leadership Training Institute of Colorado and has worked with institutions such as Peace Corps (Moldova), NYU Steinhardt, Centrul Educatia 2000+ (Romania), and the Council for Economic Education.

Kyle’s facilitation expertise is rooted in adult learning theory and supported by credentials such as Emergenetics, Strategic Doing, and Technology of Participation. He has led statewide and national trainings, peer learning cohorts, needs assessment processes, and community-centered planning efforts across government, nonprofit, and education sectors.

He holds an M.P.A. from New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service and a graduate certificate in Learning and Development from the University of Denver’s College of Professional Studies.

Kyle believes that the workplace should focus on continuous learning and growth, inclusive engagement, and creating a sense of belonging. “Why wouldn’t we hope for work environments that align with our values and our professional and personal growth aspirations?” He brings curiosity, compassion, and clarity to every engagement, and is most inspired when people find their voice, connect with others, and lead boldly in collective service.

Meet

Jason Pemberton

Jason Pemberton is a multi-award winning facilitator, coach, independent executive board director, and strategist based in Denver, Colorado. Born in USA and raised in New Zealand, his entire career has been dedicated to Not-for-Profit and purpose-led organizations striving for high impact.

A series of catastrophic earthquakes in his home city of Christchurch, New Zealand, launched him into several years of disaster response, which, in turn, launched him into international consulting practice. He has worked in more than a dozen countries supporting companies, networks, and communities navigate through unexpected terrain for mutual benefit.

As a strategist and coach, he is pragmatic, direct, and clear, bringing his sharp mind and depth of thought to the fore whilst supporting groups to identify their own priorities and take charge of their future. His deep governance experience, coupled with professional training in positive psychology and related coaching accreditations, makes him highly effective at supporting teams of leaders and governors to find successful paths forward.

His time now is invested in supporting governance boards and senior leaders to succeed, and coaching technical experts and engineers on how to be skilled leaders of people.