Every Dollar Counts: Turning Tiny Gifts Into Major Change

If your organization hasn’t started taking microdonations seriously, now is the time to start.

Across industries, people are moving away from the traditional "all or nothing" mindset and philanthropy is no exception. We’re seeing a cultural shift towards smaller, more frequent gifts. These are emerging as one of the most powerful tools nonprofits can use to grow donor bases, boost revenue, and deepen engagement.

The microphilanthropy trend, also known as microgiving or microdonations, is transforming how everyday people support the causes they care about. While the gifts may be small, the opportunities they create are anything but.

Let’s examine what these trends are, why it works, and how your nonprofit can make the most of it.

What Is Microgiving?

Microgiving refers to donations of small dollar amount, usually under $25, that are easy to give, often spontaneous, and frequently enabled by digital platforms. Examples include $1 at checkout, $5 through a social media fundraiser, or rounding up the cost of a rideshare to the nearest dollar.

It’s not a new idea, but it’s gaining momentum fast. Why? Because digital tools are making it easier than ever to give and research is showing just how much potential these small donations hold.

Why Microgiving Matters

You might be wondering: is it worth your time to pursue $1 donations?

According to new research out of Stanford’s Golub Capital Social Impact Lab, the answer is a resounding yes.

In a study involving over 2 million PayPal users, researchers found that tiny tweaks to how nonprofits framed their donation asks had an outsized impact on how many people gave and how much they gave.

For example:

• Simply showing donors what $1 could accomplish (e.g., “$1 provides safe water for two people for a year”) nearly quadrupled donation rates compared to no description at all.

• Including narrative impact, such as a story of what the organization does, also boosted giving but quantified impact performed even better.

• Interestingly, including third-party ratings like “Charity Navigator says...” reduced donations. The takeaway? Simplicity matters. Clarity wins.

Bottom line: the way you ask makes a massive difference, especially with small-dollar donors who are on the fence. Microgiving isn’t just about amounts. It’s about making giving feel easy, immediate, and meaningful.

The Donor Base You Can’t Afford to Ignore

The latest data from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project reveals a concerning trend: small-dollar donors are disengaging. Despite an overall rise in charitable dollars, the number of donors giving $100 or less declined nearly 9% in 2024.

That’s a big problem. While these gifts may represent a smaller slice of your overall revenue pie, they make up more than half the entire donor base.

Worse yet, retention rates for microdonors are low, around 32%, meaning most of these donors don’t return the next year. That’s not just lost revenue. That’s lost potential.

Why should you care?

Because every major donor starts somewhere, and it’s often with a small gift. If we’re not engaging microdonors effectively, we’re missing the opportunity to build lifelong donor relationships.

Turning Tiny Gifts into Big Relationships

Here’s the good news: small-dollar donors aren’t impossible to engage. But you have to meet them where they are with strategies that make giving feel easy, worthwhile, and part of something bigger.

Here are some tactics your nonprofit can put into play:

1. Make the Impact Clear

When someone is giving $1, they need to know that $1 matters. Spell out exactly what it can do. Is it a day’s worth of food? A pair of clean socks? An hour of tutoring? Be specific and visual.

Research shows that clearly quantifying the impact of even the smallest gift increases the likelihood of donation, sometimes dramatically.

2. Use the Right Ask Strings

The way donation amounts are displayed matters more than you might think.

In Stanford’s experiments, replacing the $75 option on PayPal’s donation page with a $10 button increased participation. A $200 button, on the other hand, raised more money overall, and both options improved retention rates.

That means you can optimize for more donors or more dollars, depending on your goals, or tailor asks to specific segments. Don’t just guess. Look at your data and test what works best for your audience.

3. Reduce Friction at Checkout

Asking for a microdonation at the point of purchase, whether it’s at a live event, on your website, or even through a third-party platform, removes barriers.

Once someone says “yes” to giving, they’re more likely to do it again. That first microgift builds the habit.

This strategy doesn’t crowd out future giving either. Studies show that checkout donations do not reduce later generosity — they often increase it.

4. Tap into Peer Networks

Microgiving campaigns are powerful when they go viral. Just look at the success of BTS fan-led fundraising efforts, where microdonation campaigns raised over $11,000 in a single month, mostly in $1 gifts, by activating global communities with shared purpose.

Empower supporters to share, organize, and amplify. Use hashtags, templates, and digital assets to help them feel like part of the mission.

5. Celebrate Every Gift

Avoid the trap of only celebrating big donors. A $3 donor who feels seen and appreciated is far more likely to stick around than a $300 donor who gets radio silence.

Send quick thank-yous. Feature “micro-heroes” on social media. Show the collective power of small gifts by regularly reporting on what they’ve achieved together.

What’s Next for Microphilanthropy?

As more nonprofits embrace this model, we’ll likely see even more innovation in how small donations are captured and used. Think:

• Round-up campaigns embedded in retail purchases

• Donation-as-a-subscription models for monthly giving

• Real-time giving via QR codes at in-person events

• AI-personalized ask strings based on donor history

This isn’t a trend. It’s a transformation. Microgiving is here to stay, and it’s reshaping the way the sector thinks about engagement, loyalty, and impact.

Let’s Not Miss the Moment

Right now, millions of people care deeply about social, environmental, and community issues. But they don’t all have the means, or motivation, to write big checks.

Microphilanthropy invites them in.

It says: Start here. Start small. But start now.

Because every dollar matters. Every gift builds momentum. And every donor, no matter the size of their first gift, is a relationship waiting to grow.

Looking to better engage your microdonors?
Julep makes it simple to create tailored giving experiences that meet donors where they are. From seamless integration with Anedot to smart segmentation tools, we help you turn casual donors into lifelong supporters.

Let’s make it easier to say yes, one small gift at a time.