Strategies for Sustainable List Growth in 2026: Holistic Approaches for Finding and Targeting Your Best Audience
Published March 25, 2026
Trista Murphy (she/her), Senior Vice President, MissionWired
2025 was another one of those years where fundraisers are looking back and asking: Is anything predictable anymore? Organizations that had never stood up a rapid-response effort saw breaking news impact their mission and call for emergency response. Even organizations that regularly balance a calendar of programmatic material and rapid response saw their content calendar go out the window as they stood up one rapid-response effort after another.
It was (and maybe continues to be?) daunting, but if there’s anything that is predictable about fundraising, it’s that we know our community of donors wants to help. In unprecedented moments, whether a first for your organization or regular practice, there’s a temptation to be timid – to see what your peers are doing before making a call, and this can often be a smart strategy. But if your instinct tells you a moment is mission-critical, making the move to act quickly and scale up can have transformative results.
Looking back on the past year, our team has been tracking moments where we saw list acquisition peak and where we saw it decline. Just like the incredible growth some organizations drove by taking the time to invest in ads and other acquisition channels, we also saw that organizations that invested in fixed-cost digital list growth were able to take returns and audience expansion one step further.
The insights below are one feature in a comprehensive resource, our “2026 Acquisition Guidebook: Your Framework For A Year Of Growth.” Share your information below to access the complete Guide!
I’m excited to dig into all the ways that strategic list acquisition can help power sustainable growth for your program – but first, let’s tackle a common question for nonprofits facing budget constraints in this challenging giving landscape:
How Can I Make the Case for Investing in Acquisition When Budgets Are Tight
We’re taking this lesson from the recession back in 2008 – when organizations made big cuts in acquisition. Sure, they saved some costs in the moment, raising net revenue and lowering their cost to raise a dollar, but unknowingly set their program growth back in a way that has been difficult to recover from. Today, successful nonprofits are taking a holistic approach to fundraising to keep their sights set on long-term growth. At its simplest, this really means finding the best ways to bring new donors into the fold and making sure your channels are working together to achieve that.
List fatigue (not donor fatigue) can start to set in when you’re messaging the same audience again and again, so it’s crucial for your ongoing file health that you get your message out to some new eyes to avoid unsubscribes. Fixed-cost list growth may seem like yet another investment, but when your strategy is solid, it’s one that can help you achieve powerful, sustainable, long-term growth.
In critical moments when nonprofits are forced to make concessions in their budgets, there are still careful adjustments you can make to recalibrate your spending and investments to find space for long-term growth. What we saw in 2025 was that organizations who invested, while it may have required some refunneling of their budget, drove an overall return on spend and a strong breakeven – averaging between 6 and 12 months across the board.
So talk to your senior leadership about opening up that window, and lead with what you know about ROI. The conversation could look a little something like:
How To Get There: Tools for Growth Across Channels
The Digital Co-Op was built on the belief that organizations are stronger and more successful when we grow together and brought to life by the ingenuity of our data scientists and strategy experts in collaboration. A trusted source of growth for five years strong, The Digital Co-Op is made to drive the KPIs that matter to seasoned nonprofit fundraising leaders – quick returns, strong deliverability, and proven long-term value. As other co-op models have joined us in the market, we’ve continued doing what we do best: identifying the prospects most interested in supporting your unique cause, powered by state-of-the-art predictive modeling and a collaborative of 330 organizations sharing mission-aligned data points.
In the midst of a challenging fundraising environment, our suite of acquisition and targeting tools is still driving tremendous return on investment for our nonprofit partners:
Fixed low-cost email acquisition with AdvantageAI
Acquire and connect with high-quality email prospects modeled for their interest in your unique mission and work. For many nonprofit members of The Digital Co-Op, consistent email acquisition efforts throughout the year – building Co-Op buys into monthly or seasonal planning, then scaling up in big moments – has powered incredible returns and fueled long-term growth.
Reengage lapsed supporters with Reactivation
Email performance bounced back during end-of-year campaigns in 2025, after seeing softness the year before. For many, this was achieved by widening and closing their aperture when it comes to segmentation to find that sweet spot and connect and reengage lapsed audiences. Never lose sight of the donors who came to you during a peak moment: There is always the opportunity to reactivate them.
With Reactivate by The Digital Co-Op, we can tell you which of your lapsed supporters are most primed to give back. This past year-end, one nonprofit invested in our reactivation modeling ahead of Giving Tuesday and drove a 10X return by Dec. 31.
Find the best supporters to text with MissionSMS
In 2025, nonprofits saw a big shift in the role of texting in fundraising. The once up-and-coming channel has matured, and competition is increasing, which means that optimizing your SMS strategy with data-informed tools is all the more important.
MissionSMS is a really helpful tool both for organizations that are just breaking into texting and for those who are seeing some stagnation in their current model. We can work with you to deploy P2P messages to the best audience – with models that are targeting not just folks inclined to give overall but also those likely to do so over text.
Identify high-value donors with The Mid-Level Co-Op
This past year, we’ve seen nonprofits increasingly connecting with their DAF audiences with targeted and intentional messaging to tap into a high-potential revenue stream. I can think of no better audience than your mid-level group to go out with a DAF ask to. And when your efforts are informed by our sister co-op, The Mid-Level Co-Op, you can find new-to-file prospects most likely to give at a higher tier.
A one-of-a-kind tool for mid-level acquisition, The Mid-Level Co-Op drove strong results this past end-of-year giving season: Prospects identified by The Mid-Level Co-Op drove a 2X higher average gift at EOY than standard acquisition prospects.
Segment more efficiently with offline integration
Across online and offline channels, fundraising is only getting more and more expensive. Direct mail programs narrowly escaped a postage increase in January, but we know one is coming down the pike this year. One of the best ways to prepare is to get really efficient with your offline modeling: inform segmentation at increased net revenue and identify who is more likely to respond online vs. offline. Our team can answer some of those questions for you with our Offline Integration tool powered by The Digital Co-Op.
When it comes to strategies for sustainable acquisition in a year like 2026, it’s important to think about growth in a holistic way. List growth is not just about adding more people to your file – it’s about getting more efficient and more targeted about who you’re messaging, when, and how to drive the most powerful response and growth for your program.