Weekly Intelligence Brief
This Week at a Glance
A note from Jennifer
As I write this, we're closing the books on Q2 and the first half of 2026. That makes this one of the most important weeks of your year, not because of what's due, but because of what you set up next. The organizations that finish strong in December are the ones that use late June and July to plan, while everyone else is still reacting.
Here's the rhythm I'd run: close Q2 clean (reconcile, thank your donors, and capture what actually worked this half), treat Q3 as the quiet build (segment your list, draft your year-end appeal, and lock in grants and fall events now), so Q4 is execution, not scramble. This week's brief gives you the data and the deadlines to do exactly that.
Executive Summary
This week's themes
- FundraisingCharitable giving hit a record $617.2 billion in 2025, but the growth is driven by bequests and major donors, not annual campaigns.Read →
- GrantsJuly deadlines are accelerating, led by FEMA's $300M security grant and the NEA arts cycle.Read →
- AIHalf of U.S. adults now use AI chatbots, and a wave of new federal and state AI policy is arriving for organizations to navigate.Read →
- AudienceNew research from Pew, Edelman, and Morning Consult shows trust, authenticity, and relevance now drive donor and consumer behavior.Read →
- Develop2027 conferences are opening calls for proposals and registration, making now the time to plan professional development.Read →
Charitable Giving Passes $600 Billion
U.S. charitable giving rose 5.7% in current dollars (3.0% adjusted for inflation) in 2025, surpassing $600 billion for the first time. Bequest giving did the heavy lifting, up 19.7% (16.6% after inflation) to roughly $62.2 billion, the largest jump of any source. Individual and foundation giving stayed positive but modest.
The record masks the real story: growth came from planned gifts and large donors, not the annual fund. Organizations leaning only on yearly appeals are swimming against the current.
Strategic recommendation
Shift investment toward planned giving, major gifts, and foundation stewardship rather than relying primarily on annual campaigns. Start by identifying your top 20 donors and your most loyal recurring givers for a personal year-end touch.Want a hand building the year-end major-gift plan? That's our work.
Half of Americans Now Use AI
- 49% of U.S. adults now use AI chatbots, up from 33% in 2024 and 23% in 2023.
- 44% use ChatGPT specifically; 24% use a chatbot daily.
- 60% say they read AI-generated search summaries.
- Younger adults are adopting faster, but trust in the output remains cautious.
Donors increasingly meet you first through an AI summary, and they expect AI-assisted convenience, yet still want humans making the final call. Write your mission and impact in plain, quotable language so AI describes you accurately, and keep a human visible in donor communication.
P3C helps nonprofits write AI-ready messaging so AI tools describe you accurately. Learn more.
AI Policy: The Rules Are Arriving
- Federal momentum. A bipartisan Great American AI Act discussion draft landed June 4, following a March White House National AI Policy Framework and a June 2 executive order on AI security.
- States are moving faster. Illinois now requires employers to disclose when AI is used in employment decisions; Colorado's AI Act adds impact assessments and anti-discrimination duties for high-risk uses; Texas added consumer protections.
- A global deadline. The EU AI Act transparency rules take effect August 2026, reaching any organization that serves EU constituents.
- Your sector has a role. RAND notes philanthropies and community organizations are expected to help manage AI's workforce and trust impacts, not just comply with rules.
If your team uses AI for hiring, donor screening, or service decisions, disclosure and governance rules are arriving where you operate. A simple internal AI policy, covering donor-data protection, disclosure, and what AI may and may not touch, gets ahead of all of it and signals responsibility to funders.
P3C builds practical, funder-ready AI policies for nonprofit teams. Let's draft yours.
AI in Practice: Where to Put It to Work
Adoption is rising, but the value comes from a few uses done consistently. Practical starting points across your team:
Marketing & Communications
- Turn one impact story into three formats: a social post, a newsletter blurb, and a donor email.
- Draft your year-end appeal, then edit heavily for voice.
- Rewrite captions and bios in plain, keyword-clear language so AI and search describe you accurately.
- Plan and batch a month of social content in one sitting.
Operations & Admin
- Summarize meeting notes, surveys, or board packets into themes and action items.
- Draft routine emails, FAQs, and donor acknowledgments from a template.
- Get a first draft of a grant narrative, then tailor and fact-check it to the funder.
- Clean and segment messy donor lists into recurring, new, and lapsed.
Efficiency & Fundraising
- Draft tailored messaging for each donor segment in minutes.
- Build reusable templates: thank-you letters, impact reports, appeal series.
- Translate materials for the communities you serve.
- Prep a prospect-research brief before a major-gift conversation.
Keep a human reviewing anything donor-facing, and never paste donor personal data or confidential records into public AI tools. Pair adoption with a written AI policy (see above) so your team knows what's allowed.
Want a team AI playbook and prompt library tailored to your nonprofit? We build those.
Brand Trust Now Runs on Relevance
- Trust has shifted from broad societal purpose to personal relevance, consumers reward brands that feel useful and reflective of their identity.
- Utility is the top relevance driver (85%), followed by identity reflection (81%) and community connection (77%).
- Unpaid voices are 5x more powerful than paid brand voices for driving trust.
Lead with proof, not promises. Elevate real beneficiary and volunteer voices over polished brand messaging, and make every communication concretely useful to the reader.
The Gen Z Trust Gap
- 94% of brands score lower on trust with Gen Z than with the general public, a steep credibility gap for any organization courting younger supporters.
- Gen Z is more settled and goal-oriented than four years ago, and leads in social commerce and streaming, but spends cautiously.
With younger audiences, earn trust before you ask. Favor lower-barrier entry points: recurring micro-gifts, monthly giving, and volunteer opportunities over large one-time asks.
Platform Shifts Reshaping Your Reach
The social platforms rewrote their rules in 2026, and they all point the same way: reach is harder to earn and easier to lose. The shifts worth acting on now:
- Instagram demoted likes (April 2026). Ranking now leans on saves, shares, and DMs, and repost-heavy accounts are no longer recommended. (Buffer)
- The "Great Purge" hit May 6–7. Instagram wiped bot and inactive accounts; most accounts lost 2–5% of followers. If yours dropped, that's the purge, not real supporters. (Inc.)
- TikTok shows new videos to followers first, and completion rate decides reach. The bar is now ~70% completion to go wide. (HeyOrca)
- LinkedIn gutted company-page reach (down 60–66%) while personal profiles get ~561% more, and PDF carousels are the highest-engagement format. (designACE)
- X now favors paying accounts, so free organic reach there keeps shrinking. (StoryChief)
Post original, human content from your own camera roll; chase saves and shares over likes; have staff post from personal profiles and turn your impact report into a LinkedIn PDF carousel; and keep building the email list you actually own. This is exactly the work P3C handles, see Work With Us below.
July deadlines worth acting on
Seven verified opportunities, newest deadlines first. Confirm eligibility and exact dates on each funder's site; federal pass-through programs often have earlier state deadlines.
Bank of America Neighborhood Builders
Due July 1| Who applies | Eligible 501(c)(3) organizations |
| Award | Grant funding, ED leadership training, national peer network |
| Source | Bank of America Foundation |
| Confidence | Corporate foundation |
NEA Grants for Arts Projects
Part 1 due July 9| Who applies | 501(c)(3)s with 5+ years of arts programming and $20K+ annual operating expenses |
| Award | Project-based arts funding; requires 1:1 cost-share match |
| Key dates | Intent to apply July 9; application portal July 14–21, 2026 |
| Source | National Endowment for the Arts |
| Confidence | Government |
FEMA Nonprofit Security Grant Program (FY2026)
Due July 24| Funding | $300 million total ($150M Urban Area + $150M State) |
| Who applies | Nonprofits at high risk of terrorist attack: faith-based orgs, community nonprofits, museums, cultural orgs, schools |
| Use | Target hardening and physical security enhancements |
| Note | Federal close is July 24; apply through your State Administrative Agency, which may set an earlier deadline |
| Source | FEMA Notice of Funding Opportunity |
| Confidence | Government |
Baltimore Community Foundation Grants
Through Sep 30| Who applies | Eligible nonprofits in the Baltimore metro; includes a fund for Black-led organizations or those serving Black communities |
| Source | Baltimore Community Foundation |
| Confidence | Community foundation |
Tech Grants: Google & Microsoft
Rolling| Ad Grant: up to $10,000/month in free search ads (~$120K/yr) plus Google Workspace. Most accounts use only ~$300/month, active management is the gap, and P3C handles it. Details | |
| Microsoft | Up to 300 granted Microsoft 365 Business Basic licenses, up to 75% discounts, and $2,000 in annual Azure credits. Details |
| Confidence | Corporate programs |
This week's reports
Every report referenced this issue, all published within the last 12 months.
| Published | Report | Organization | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 23, 2026 | Giving USA 2026 | Giving USA Foundation / IU Lilly Family School | Primary |
| Jun 17, 2026 | Americans and AI 2026 | Pew Research Center | Primary |
| 2026 | Trust Barometer 2026 (Brands) | Edelman | Primary |
| 2026 | State of Gen Z 2026 / Most Trusted Brands | Morning Consult | Primary |
| 2026 | Representation & Attention research | Nielsen | Primary |
| 2026 | Nonprofit Email & Online Giving Stats | Nonprofit Tech for Good | Secondary |
| 2026 | Instagram Algorithm 2026 | Buffer | Secondary |
| 2026 | Social Platform Algorithm Shifts (LinkedIn, TikTok, X) | designACE / StoryChief / HeyOrca | Secondary |
Plan your 2026–2027 calendar
Six worth a place on the calendar. The two 2027 events are already open for proposals or registration.
| Dates | Conference | Location | Focus | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 27–29, 2026 | Tech Forward | Kansas City, MO | Nonprofit tech, data, AI | Site |
| Oct 26–28, 2026 | Nonprofit Storytelling Conf. | Tucson, AZ | Donor storytelling (500 seats) | Site |
| Nov 4–7, 2026 | GrantSummit 2026 | San Antonio, TX + online | Grant writing & management | Site |
| Dec 1–3, 2026 | NonProfit POWER | Baltimore, MD | Leadership (invite-only) | Site |
| Mar 23–26, 2027 | 27NTC | Portland, OR + virtual | Nonprofit tech · CFP opens Sep 3 | Site |
| Apr 11–13, 2027 | AFP ICON 2027 | Baltimore, MD | Fundraising · CFP open now | Site |
Jennifer's Take
The record-breaking giving number is a trap if you read it wrong. The money is moving toward bequests, major gifts, and the donors who already trust you, not toward the next cold annual appeal. So as you close Q2 this week, do two unglamorous things: pull your top 20 donors and your recurring givers, and put a real human in front of them before year-end. Everything else in this brief, the AI tools, the grants, the conferences, is in service of that one relationship-first move.
Sneak peek, next week: a practical Q3 planning calendar, the year-end appeal framework I use with clients, and the AI tools worth adopting before fall. See you Tuesday.
— Jennifer, P Three Consulting
Research Sources Used This Week
Philanthropy & Fundraising
Audience & Consumer
AI & Policy
Grants
Conferences & Tech
- NTEN
- AFP Global
- Tech Impact
- Google & Microsoft for Nonprofits
Marketing & Platforms
How P3C can help this quarter
Reading the intelligence is step one. We help mission-driven teams act on it. A few ways we plug in right now:
Google Ad Grant Management
Up to $120K a year in free search ads is on the table, and most accounts use a fraction of it. We activate and actively manage yours so it works for your mission.
Let's map it out →AI Policy & AI-Ready Messaging
Protect donor data, set staff guidelines funders respect, and rewrite your mission so AI tools describe you accurately when donors search.
Start a policy →Social Media Management & Strategy
Win the new platform rules: original content, the right channels, and a calendar that runs ahead instead of scrambling week to week.
Build the plan →Get this every Tuesday
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