8 Waves to Ride in 2025
This isn’t a prediction post. Each January, you can find plenty of predictions about the new year. Instead, I’m much more interested in what is happening now that leaders can put to good use.
So today I’m going to unpack eight trends I’ve been watching that I believe leaders like you can leverage in 2025.
I write the Wave Report to help leaders grow themselves and their organizations and spot the waves they can ride along the way. Think of it as a surf report of the opportunities surging in the vast ocean of charities and the organizations that work with them.
This is one of my favorite pieces of the year to write. It’s also one of the hardest to put together, so I hope you benefit from it.
Let’s dive in.
#1 Trend to Leverage
Sustainable Recurring Subscription Revenue
2025 will be a banner year for sustainable, recurring giving to charities. We know this because recurring giving has accelerated in the past five years – from 2019 to 2024, the average charity saw a 127.3% growth in recurring donors (Neon One).
The subscription economy has been growing explosively for more than a decade. Over the past 12 years, the average subscription-oriented business has outpaced the general market by 244%, and charities are also seeing significant growth.
Above: Subscription-oriented businesses have grown nearly four times faster than the general market over the past dozen years, and recurring giving will accelerate in 2025.
One piece of the puzzle that has been missing has been someone taking the time to help charity leaders understand how the rise of the subscription economy is impacting recurring giving and what to do about it.
That’s why I spent the past three years researching and writing The Rise of Sustainable Giving, my new book about how the subscription economy has been transforming recurring giving and what nonprofits can do to benefit.
I'm proud to say that ahead of launch, the book hit #1 on Amazon's Hot New Releases and Best Sellers lists for Nonprofit Organizations and Nonprofit Marketing. 😳
Above: “#1 Best Seller”… I’m still shocked. I had no idea you could have a book chart on the bestseller list before it was released (here’s a video of my reaction). I think it’s a testament to how ready nonprofit leaders are for this message.
You can order a copy of The Rise of Sustainable Giving directly on our website for a discount, or via Amazon.
💡 Takeaway: As the subscription economy grows and donors are more likely to give recurring gifts, charities that understand how to apply the insights can accelerate recurring giving.
#2 Trend to Leverage
Finding Your Voice, Distinct Perspective, and Providing Unique Value
In today’s crowded internet marketplace, words are a dime a dozen. With the proliferation of AI-generated fodder, putting content into the world has never been easier and more unremarkable.
What is in short supply are unique perspectives. Thoughtful contributions. Personality.
Every organization has a voice, and you, as a leader, have a voice – the question is whether you are using it, honing it, or sharing it.
What would it look like for you and your organization to increase its influence by sharing your unique perspectives and insights in your field of expertise?
What would be valuable to those who care about and support your cause?
We’ll come back to the importance of influencers later in this list.
💡 Takeaway: Our world is increasingly shaped by thought leadership and expertise from influencers. Finding your voice by sharing your unique perspective is a powerful way to shape your cause in 2025.
#3 Trend to Leverage
The Way People Discover Things is Changing as Online Search Changes
The way people discover information, trends, and causes is changing. A decade ago, if you wanted to find something online, you went to Google to look for it.
Today, people are much more likely to look to other sources. 56% of online shoppers start shopping searches at Amazon.com. Searches for “how to” information might start on YouTube or TikTok rather than Google – 24% of respondents to a recent study said they primarily use social media for searches.
Further, search engines have introduced AI overviews, using generative AI to summarize and directly answer search queries on the landing page. This is convenient for users, but troubling for organizations that rely on the traffic from individuals based on search results.
Above: I find it ironic that even a Google search on how search is changing admits that people are “moving away from… traditional search engines like Google.”
Recognizing that traditional search is less likely to be a source of new individuals and discovery, leaders and organizations can lean into alternative approaches to being discoverable. These include:
Developing a distinctive voice and creating unique content (refer to #2 “Finding Your Voice” above).
Partnering with influencers, other brands, and creators to reach new audiences.
Cultivating “outposts” where the people you want to reach are, whether on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, or in the real world - churches, live events, conferences.
💡 Takeaway: Search isn’t what it used to be, but if we understand how people discover brands, products, and causes, we can leverage the changes to reach and attract people who will resonate with our cause.
#4 Trend to Leverage
Building an Audience of People with Shared Passions
Never before in history have so many people had access to so many tools to build an audience of people with shared passions. How can you and your organization become the convener of people who care about your cause?
One of the waves that has been building over the past few years is the rise of the creator economy and the increasing role that influencers play in society.
In 2025, influencer marketing spending in the U.S. will outpace social and digital ad spending.
Above: Influencer marketing spending is projected to outpace social and digital spending, illustrating the increasing importance of unique voices of influence.
The growth of influencers is one reason our earlier trend #2 is about finding and developing your voice, distinct perspective, and providing unique value.
Imago Consulting is a case in point. When I founded the company and started the Wave Report less than three years ago, I had a vision to work with nonprofit leaders and businesses that work with nonprofits that care about growth and innovation.
From my first Wave Report back then, which went to basically friends and close colleagues, to today (#126, if you’re curious), our audience has grown by 3,955%. And this year, we’re poised to double that number.
While the rise of the creator economy has been good for creators and influencers, this also bodes well for charities and nonprofit leaders.
Consider how can you use your voice in 2025 to build an audience of passionate people about your cause. I’m not saying they are passionate about you or your organization but about the cause. It’s about attracting an increasingly larger audience of people who care about what you care about. That’s how businesses are built today, and increasingly, I believe it represents an opportunity for charities and their leaders to build their own audiences.
💡 Takeaway: Never before have so many tools been accessible to organizations and leaders to cultivate and build their own audience of passionate advocates. How can you cultivate your voice and your platform to build an audience around your cause?
#5 Trend to Leverage
Understanding and Leveraging Your Natural Resources
Every organization and individual has what I call natural resources – strengths or gifts that are unique to them.
A mistake I see leaders make is spending too much time and emotional energy looking at and wishing for what others have. “If we had a celebrity founder like XYZ Charity...” or “I wish we had connections to influencers like…” or “If only we had access to grants like…” and so on.
By contrast, highly effective fundraisers understand and tap into their unique resources.
What are your unique resources, both personally for you as a leader, and for your organization?
For organizations, here are some examples of what those natural resources might be:
Culture – Strengths in the organization's DNA that can be leveraged – e.g., entrepreneurial spirit, high tolerance for risk-taking and innovation, deep passion for advocacy, etc.
History – Values embedded in the organization's history – e.g., longevity in a particular sector, whether the organization is a pioneer or the founder was a person of significant influence, etc.
Relational – Connections or an otherwise relational orientation – e.g., significant collaboration and partnerships, community organizing, or connections to influencers, artists, celebrities, etc.
Capital – Access to financial resources – e.g., a board policy favorable to reinvestment, access to endowment or grants, a national footprint, etc.
Brand – The organization’s brand is known – e.g., awareness with the general public, in a specific niche or geographic region, etc.
Network – Distributed networks of people, content, media, or locations – e.g., boots on the ground, widely syndicated or distributed content, offices or distributed team members, etc.
Scale – Scale itself is a natural resource – e.g., the size of the organization’s footprint, resources, donor file, etc.
The key is to consider your unique natural resources and stop wasting time and energy being envious of what others have that you don’t.
As Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, might ask, what can you be the best in the world at? What are you passionate about? There are likely some clues to your unique natural resources in the answers to those questions.
💡 Takeaway: Effective leaders seek to understand what natural resources they’ve been given personally and organizationally, and they tap into those resources. This is a trend to leverage any year, but especially in 2025.
#6 Trend to Leverage
Working with AI as a Co-Worker and Thought Partner
If you’ve followed me for some time, you’ll know I’m optimistic about how AI-based tools can help leaders and organizations be more effective and efficient and progress toward accomplishing their missions.
I even wrote a guide last year titled 12 Ways to Leverage AI in 2024 – you can download it at www.imago.consulting/12-ways-to-use-ai (let me know if you’d like me to publish a revised and updated edition).
In 2025, we will see leaders become more comfortable with working AI tools into their day-to-day work lives, including all 12 ways I described last year, with two notable additions: 1) AI as a thought partner and 2) AI as an autonomous agent.
Above: All the ways AI tools acted as co-workers and helped leaders in 2024 are becoming more helpful in 2025, with the addition of two more ways to leverage AI: as a thought partner and as an autonomous agent.
I’ll unpack each of these ways to work with AI tools in a future Wave Report, but briefly:
Thought Partner – Increasingly AI tools, particularly chat tools like Perplexity and ChatGPT have become helpful sounding boards when a leader needs to process through an issue or a strategic opportunity. Think of conversing with these tools as a form of decision-making support, creative thinking, and problem-solving partner.
Autonomous Agent – The big buzz early in 2025 is AI tools that can act on your behalf within a strict set of parameters. These AI tools will be capable of completing tasks independently. OpenAI just announced a preview of its autonomous agent, Operator. As a simple example, I’d love to have a conversation with an AI agent about how to respond to a particular email, and then have the agent draft the email and put it in my drafts to review and send.
💡 Takeaway: Appropriately used, AI tools will continue to enable leaders to be more effective and efficient in accomplishing their missions in 2025.
#7 Trend to Leverage
Engaging with Live Experiences and Events
As our world has become thoroughly digital, the importance of in-person human connection will only continue to grow.
Since the pandemic shutdowns in 2020 and 2021, I wondered whether live events would ever return to their pre-pandemic levels. Not only have events returned, but at least in my world, they’ve multiplied. There are now five times more events on my radar than before the pandemic.
There are still the typical conferences and association conventions, but there has been a significant increase in other kinds of experiences.
Some events are smaller and more intimate, such as summits, roundtables, workshops, niche events, and destination experiences.
Other events are culture-shaping spectacles, like Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which made a measurable impact on the US Economy (CNN Business). Or comedian Nate Bargatze is breaking arena records and the internet (Billboard). Or Dude Perfect, the YouTube trickshot channel with more than 60 million followers, that just raised $100+ million to build an entertainment empire, including live tour events and even a theme park (CNBC).
Bottom line – events matter. People want to gather, connect, and have an experience.
How can you leverage events in 2025?
Leveraging events might mean identifying a few key industry gatherings you should attend. I always recommend that charity leaders attend at least two events – one specific to their vertical of other similar nonprofits, and one that is more broadly oriented, that attraches charities from many different verticals.
However, leveraging events might also mean convening your audience or taking an existing event to another level. Events are a powerful way to convene and catalyze people to action.
💡 Takeaway: Events are more important than ever – we humans like to connect, and when people come together, the flow of ideas increases, inspiration grows, and things happen.
Let’s conclude with a massive wave that has been building in philanthropy: the use of alternative giving types.
#8 Trend to Leverage
Tapping into Donor Advised Funds and Qualified Charitable Distributions
A huge number of Americans are seeing their wealth grow and looking for a place to give it. In 2025, two specific types of gifts will play a big role: donor-advised funds (DAFs) and qualified charitable distributions (QCDs).
Donor-advised funds have been on the radar for many years, but several factors are making them a wave with building momentum—the number of Americans participating, the number of dollars, and the increasing availability of DAFs as a financial tool for middle-income families, not just the ultra-wealthy.
A donor-advised fund, or a DAF, is a charitable investment account that allows donors to contribute money or assets to support charities.
According to the National Philanthropic Trust, 3 million Americans now own donor-advised funds totaling more than $250 billion.
The average value of a DAF today is $141,000, representing a growing opportunity for charities. Donors have already set aside funds for charity – the question is to whom they will give them and when.
Brenda Moore is a friend, self-described legacy-giving coach, mother, and early-morning enthusiast. She founded Brenda Moore & Associates, where she and her colleagues advise faith-based nonprofits to reach their fundraising goals. Moore recommends the following to charity leaders here early in 2025:
If you want to maximize these gifts in 2025 here are three things you need to do before April:
Schedule visits with your 2024 DAF donors.
During the visit thank them for their 2024 gift, ask what inspired their decision to make that gift, and invite them to consider using their DAF again in 2025 to repeat or even increase their support.
Before the visit ends ask if they might consider naming your organization as a final beneficiary of the DAF. Get the legacy giving conversation started!
DAF giving is one of the fastest-growing forms of charity giving today.
Qualified Charitable Distributions, or QCDs, are the other type of giving I expect to grow in 2025. These distributions enable anyone age 70½ or older to make tax-free contributions directly from their IRAs to eligible charities. Further, once donors reach age 73, they have a required minimum distribution. These two combined mean that an increasing number of baby boomers reaching age 73 will be looking to make tax-free contributions to charities.
To harness this opportunity, Brenda recommends that charities take the following steps:
Identify potential QCD donors (ages 70½, esp 73 and older)
Educate your donors
Cultivate relationships
Make giving simple
Steward IRA gifts thoughtfully
I expect we’ll see both as opportunities to grow recurring sustainable giving since donors can set up monthly distributions.
💡 Takeaway: Donor-advised fund (DAF) gifts will be one of the fastest-growing forms of giving to charities in 2025, driven by donor adoption and the $250 billion already in DAF funding available for distribution. Qualified Charitable Distributions are the other financial vehicle that is growing explosively in 2025, as baby boomers with IRAs hit the age milestones of 70½ and 73.
If you’re still with me, THANK YOU. This is one of my favorite Wave Reports to write of the year, and it’s typically one of the most popular but it’s a doozy to put together. Thank you for investing your time today to grow yourself and your organization – I don’t take my responsibility lightly.
Until next week… Surfs Up! 🌊
- Dave
About the Author | Dave Raley
Consultant, speaker, and author Dave Raley is the founder of Imago Consulting, a firm that helps nonprofits and businesses who serve nonprofits create profitable growth through sustainable innovation. He’s the author of the book The Rise of Sustainable Giving: How the Subscription Economy is Transforming Recurring Giving, and What Nonprofits Can Do to Benefit. Dave also writes a weekly innovation and leadership column called The Wave Report, and the co-founder of the Purpose & Profit Podcast — a show about the ideas at the intersection of nonprofit causes and for-profit brands. Connect with Dave on LinkedIn.
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