Category: Digital and Creative

Canadian nonprofits are entering a period defined by contradiction: average donation amounts are holding steady, and even rising among certain groups, yet the overall donor base is shrinking under the weight of cost-of-living pressures. At the same time, digital fundraising programs are showing that scale, diversification, and audience ownership can mitigate these risks and secure long-term resilience. Our analysis brings together data on donor behaviour and digital fundraising to identify four key dynamics shaping the sector. Each carries important implications for how nonprofits must adapt their fundraising strategies.

End-of-year 2025 was the strongest fundraising period we’ve ever delivered at Data Sciences. Across our non-profit partners, fundraising revenue increased by 57% year over year, driven by more than 15,000 individual gifts across all campaigns. Giving Tuesday alone delivered a record-setting fundraising day, setting the pace for December and beyond.  These results matter not just because they’re strong, but because they came in an increasingly difficult fundraising environment.

Giving Tuesday has become one of the most competitive fundraising days of the year. And for good reason: It’s one of the best opportunities to convert potential donors and drive revenue in the final weeks of the year. But competition is posing a serious challenge for fundraising teams.

As a data scientist, I’m often collaborating with a team of digital marketers at DS, notably on designing custom audiences, automating the deployment of ads, and analyzing digital marketing performance. This collaboration is what prompted my idea to send my parents and sister targeted ads on Meta hoping to get their RSVP to my dog's birthday.

It’s not enough for a product to be top of the line, better than the ones that came before it, or utilize the newest technological advances. A product must be tailored to its users and meet their needs. In the past decade, the concept and practice of User Experience (UX) has changed the way we design and interact with digital products.

As agencies begin deploying tools like ChatGPT, Bard, DALL-E, and Midjourney, many are eager to understand their disruptive effects' true scale and nature. In this blog, we explore how generative AI can help streamline processes, personalize experiences, and enhance creative output, as well as the challenges and limitations these technologies present.