REPORT ON EVANGELICAL MID-LEVEL DONORS
By Jared Matthews
Strategy and Research Manager, BBS & Associates
Mid-level donors are “the critical gap” between your mass market donors and your major donors. For many ministries, they provide 30% or more of annual funding.
In 2022, BBS & Associates partnered with Grey Matter Research to study evangelical mid-level donors. Now, in 2026, we’ve updated that study with fresh data. You can access the report here .
Some things haven’t changed … but some have, and they matter. A few of these shifts pose real challenges for ministries seeking to reach and retain these donors. This is where BBS can help.
Let me share some key insights:
- Larger givers are giving more, while smaller ones are giving less. Adjusted for inflation, the average evangelical mid-level donor is giving 9% more outside of church in 2026 than in 2022. But the median amount has declined by 1.6%.
- Faith-based organizations are losing ground. Although all of these donors are evangelical Protestants, and most are spiritually active, only 43% give their highest level of support to a faith-based organization. That’s down from 51% in 2022. Donors under age 65, especially, favor secular organizations.
- Online giving leads the way. The most common giving methods are websites (55%), automatic deduction from an account (25%), automatic charges to a card (24%), events (23%), mobile apps (19%), and mail (18%).
- Monthly giving is strong — with room to grow. Forty-three percent of donors are sustainers with one or more organizations, and another 16% have been in the past. Sustainers support an average of 2.6 organizations monthly, and one-third are sustainers with their top organization.
- E-mail is still the top channel. E-mail continues to be far and away the preferred way to receive updates from the organizations a donor supports. Mail is second. E-mail magazines or newsletters are third.
These findings are just the beginning. The full report includes the complete list of findings — on generosity, church giving, personal contacts, planned giving, why donors add or drop organizations, and what they expect in the coming year — along with our recommendations for how your ministry can respond.
BBS & Associates is committed to helping ministries succeed. We count it an honor to come alongside organizations like yours as you advance your mission and deepen your impact, all to the glory of God. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at jmatthews@servantheart.com with any questions.
We look forward to hearing from you.
