This is according to the Nordic Donor Report 2026, conducted on behalf of EFA members ISOBRO (Denmark), Giva Sverige (Sweden), Fundraising Norway and VaLa (Finland), with around 1,000 adults surveyed in each country.

Seven in 10 (70%) Norwegians, up from 66% last year, said they donate regularly or occasionally to charities. In Denmark, which was the most generous nation in the 2024 and 2025 surveys, the figure fell slightly from 67% to 66%.

Sweden also overtook Denmark, moving from 64% to 69%, while Finland’s figure dropped from 50% to 48%.

Between 2024 and 2025, the donor share had risen in all four countries, by at least six percentage points.

The report notes that the difference between men’s and women’s giving rates has been narrowing over time, and that giving is also increasing across most age groups. The exceptions are in Sweden and Norway, where giving by 18-29-year-olds has been flat across the last three years — something the report says “may need specific attention.”

25% more engagement

Across the four countries, overall engagement in charitable activities has grown by 25% between 2024 and 2026. There is a positive trend around activities such as donating clothes or goods — the most common charitable activity in the region — entering raffles, and making one-off or regular donations.

Volunteering has remained essentially stable, moving from 9% in 2024 to 10% in 2026, while remembering a charity in a will has dropped from 2% to 1%.

Humanitarian aid remained the most supported cause across the Nordics, cited by 27% of respondents, with support for disadvantaged people in their home country (24%) and people in need in developing countries (18%) the next most prominent.

There is, however, notable variation within the region. Helping disadvantaged people in the home country is Finland’s most supported cause (35%), ahead of humanitarian aid (23%) — the reverse of the pattern in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, where humanitarian aid consistently leads. Finland is also the only country where support for religious organizations has not declined over the three years of the survey.

The Finland gap

The report flags a decline in monthly giving in Finland, with the proportion of monthly donors dropping from 18% in 2025 to 10% in 2026, compared to roughly one in three donors in the other three countries.

As was the case following the 2025 report, VaLa points to tax policy as a structural factor in the gap, noting its own research findings that more than 30% of Finns say they would give more if donations were tax-deductible, rising to around 45% among younger age groups.

Picture by Lara Jameson via Pexels

Kenneth Kamp Butzbach, the body’s secretary general, wrote recently that there is a paradox in the way the government praises the charitable sector and indicates that it has high ambitions for it, but then implements bills “which make it harder for organisations to raise money”.

In the article – posted on ISOBRO’s website and political news website Altinget – he points out several examples of this, with the latest being reforms to inheritance tax. By abolishing this tax when an estate is passed to nieces and nephews, the government has weakened the incentive to give legacies to charities, he argues.

Butzbach says of this specific change:

“We are undoubtedly looking into a major decline in donations from inheritance as a consequence, which will have serious consequences for the funding of social efforts, nature projects, emergency aid and support for vulnerable groups.”

Additional challenges

He lists several other changes from recent years including reforms of the country’s postal service, which has led to “rising postage prices and poorer quality”; new regulations being put on telephone fundraising; and stricter financial reporting requirements for charities’ fundraising income.

The week after that article was published, ISOBRO published another item on its website noting with disappointment that the Government’s finance bill did not contain a new foundation law, despite having been proposed earlier this year. ISOBRO says that a new law is “essential for both foundations and the many civil society organisations that cooperate with them”.

Better assessments needed

In the Altinget article, ISOBRO proposes that the government could motivate more people to give by raising or removing the tax deduction ceiling for donations.

It also suggests that it should be a requirement that all legislative processes are subject to a civil society impact assessment, similar to existing assessments which examine climate and business impacts.

Butzbach’s article concludes:

“In its own words, the government has high ambitions for civil society. But if the government and parliament say their words of praise about the importance of civil society, they must give us the framework to do our job.”

Despite the unfavourable environment, the latest Nordic Donor Survey found that Denmark was more generous than its three Northern neighbours, as previously reported by Fundraising Europe.

Picture by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash

Only 10% of respondents said they were ‘not likely at all’ to give to a charity, according to the survey, based on online interviews with 1,505 respondents.

The survey data, published in September, also asks how important people think various different cause areas are.

The most popular is charities combatting disease, with 75% of respondents calling these ‘very important’ or ‘important’. Charities supporting children and young people are second (66%), followed by mental health (64%).

The least valued are international development (46%), equality and anti-discrimination (51%) and animals (54%) – although in each case, the number calling them ‘not important at all’ is just 6%.

A separate report published by ISOBRO earlier in September showed that total giving in Denmark rose 8% to 7.6bn DKK (€1bn) in 2024. This follows an 8% drop between 2022 and 2023.

Looking at particular cause areas, the figures align with the more recent public research – disease fighting and disability organisations registered a 20% increase in public donations between 2023 and 2024, while donations to international aid charities rose by a more modest 3%.

The report, published with support from Deloitte, showed overall annual growth of 8% in donations received by the 212 organisations participating in ISOBRO’s research. The organisation believes that these nonprofits account for around 90% of total charitable giving in Denmark.

That growth included a 54% increase in income from legacies between 2023 and 2024. Outside of public fundraising, there has also been a sustained rise in corporate giving – such donations grew by 90% between 2020 and 2024, and 10% in the last year.

Kenneth Kamp Butzbach, secretary general of ISOBRO, says:

“The figures show that the Danes continue to stand firmly in their support for charity and civil society. This testifies to the fact that Danes support the cases that matter to them – even at a time of rising food prices, inflation and uncertainties in the world around us.”

Picture by a tray of vials by Testalize.me on Unsplash

PostNord, which is jointly owned by the Danish and Swedish governments, confirmed at the start of March that it will deliver its last letters in Denmark on 30 December 2025, due to a 90% decline in letters since 2000.

An ISOBRO document says that 30% of members use PostNord for communication and fundraising. Meanwhile others use a private company, DAO/Bladkompagnie, which ISOBRO says is “subject to the same requirements as PostNord” and is cheaper for letter delivery.

ISOBRO’s document notes that while 10 other companies hold a license to distribute mail, DAO/Bladkompagnie is the only company currently offering this service, giving it an effective monopoly from 2026. It adds:

“ISOBRO will therefore keep an eye on whether other companies express their interest in distributing letters, and if not, we will engage in political dialogue about this.

“If more players start offering nationwide mail delivery, competition in the market may push prices down further.”

‘A personal approach’

Kim Lerborg, an expert in direct mail who has worked for charities including Dansk Flygtningehjælp (Danish Refugee Council) and SOS Børnebyerne (SOS Children’s Villages), is quoted on ISOBRO’s website reminding the sector that it can still be a valuable channel, even in a digital age.

“An email with a donation button drowns in the inbox, and if you don’t act on it right away, it disappears into the feed. The physical letter may be left out on the kitchen table, meaning you can return to the message several times. This strengthens the relationship with the organisation’s cause – and increases the likelihood of a donation.

Change across Europe

PostNord also delivers letters in Sweden and this service will remain unchanged, despite the change in Denmark. The company also has some operations in Norway and Finland.

Meanwhile, other European postal services are reducing services as they consider their future in a digital world.

The Guardian reported that Germany’s Deutsche Post will be cutting 8,000 jobs to reduce costs. In the United Kingdom, the Royal Mail service was privatised in 2015 and is now considering reduced frequency deliveries of second class post.

In Norway, letters are delivered on every other weekday, while in 2017 a rural post office in Spain was the focus of media attention when its opening hours were reduced to just 15 minutes a day during August.

European Union plans for mandatory electronic invoicing will further reduce postal volumes in the bloc and other countries when introduced over the coming years.

Photo by PostNord

The study is based on a sample size of 1,000 people aged 18+ from each country, and covers: donor behaviour, ways of participating with charities, channels used, and future giving.

The survey, carried out for the second year in a row, was commissioned by Giva Sverige (Sweden), ISOBRO (Denmark), VaLa (Finland) and Fundraising Norway.

Donation frequency

Across all four countries, Denmark remains the most generous country in the region with 67% of people donating at least occasionally: an increase from 61% in 2024. Danish nonprofits also seem to be reaching new target groups with an increase in giving among men and individuals aged 30-39 and 60+, and more men (69%) than women (65%) now donating at least occasionally. In 2024 58% of men said they gave at least occasionally, compared to 64% of women.

In Norway, where 66% donate at least occasionally, the study indicates a greater age difference in donation frequency compared to other Nordic countries, with older donors (aged 60+) more likely to give on a regular basis at 81% of this age group (up from 64% in 2024), compared to 65% of both 40-49-year-olds and 50-59-year-olds (up from 54% and 60% respectively last year).

Over in Sweden (where 64% give at least occasionally), the study indicates that an improved economy has resulted in more giving among some donor groups. More women (67%) in the country now give than men (60%), although both have risen since last year, from 57% and 55% respectively. Giving has also risen across all age groups, except the youngest (18-29), and is highest among Swedes aged 60+ at 74% of this age group. The Nordic Donor Survey broadly confirms the results from Giva Sverige’s latest survey on giving in Sweden, which also showed giving was on the up.

Mårten Palmefors, senior analyst, Giva Sverige, says:

“A better economy will have the greatest impact on groups living on the margins, which includes many pensioners, for example. We already know that the willingness to donate is high at that age, and it is clear that when the economy has swung in a more positive direction, many older people return to giving gifts again.”

In Finland, where 50% donate at least occasionally (up from 42% in 20240, there is also difference in generosity between men and women, with 43% of men saying they donate at least occasionally compared to 57% of women. Giving has risen more among women than men – in 2024, 44% of women said they gave, compared to 40% of men. Giving has also risen significantly among some age groups: in 2024, 39% of 30-39-year-olds, and 46% of people aged 60+ gave at least occasionally. This year, rates have risen to 50% and 61% respectively.

Instead of donating money, Finns are slightly more active than other Nordic countries in participating in charity in other ways, such as donating clothes or goods or doing volunteer work (15% vs. 9–14%).

Pia Tornikoski, Secretary General of Finland’s VaLa ry comments:

“Although we are quite far behind other Nordic countries in terms of donation results, the desire to participate in charity is also high here.

She adds:

“The differences with our neighbouring countries can be explained, for example, by the general economic situation, donation traditions, and legislative differences. Finns have fewer opportunities to deduct donation amounts in taxes than in other countries. I am glad that Finland is also currently investigating the expansion of the current tax deduction practice. State support would be a good incentive to promote our donation culture.”

Most popular methods of support

The study also asked people how they support good causes. Donating clothes or goods was popular across all four countries, as was buying an organization’s product or raffle.

Top 3 activities per country

• Norway: 1. giving donations of clothes or products (32%); 2. buying an organization’s product or raffle (32%); 3. Supporting as a monthly donor or sponsor (27%).
• Finland: 1. giving donations of clothes or products (28%); 2. buying an organization’s product or raffle (17%); 3. making a donation to an organization’s bank account (16%).
• Sweden: 1. giving donations of clothes or products (37%); 2. buying an organization’s product or raffle (34%); 3. making a donation via mobile payment (22%).
• Denmark: 1. giving donations of clothes or products (29%); 2. buying an organization’s product or raffle (24%); 3. supporting as a monthly donor or sponsor (26%)

Most common causes

The most common cause across all four countries was humanitarian aid and disasters, which rose 4% year on year, to 30% of respondents.

Helping the most disadvantaged was the second most commonly supported cause (26%), followed by helping the most vulnerable in developing countries (18%).

Other causes that saw growth were development of health-promoting methods and methods for treating diseases – up 4% to 17% of respondents; and exercise and sports – up 5% to 14% of respondents. 11% said they had supported environmental and nature protection nonprofits.

In a blog on the results, Fundraising Norway general secretary Siri Nodland comments:

“Norwegians have increasingly prioritized giving to humanitarian disasters, national and domestic causes, and international aid. Support for humanitarian disasters has grown from 29% in 2024 to 37% in 2025, and support for national and domestic causes has increased from 18% to 24%. We also see a clear shift towards prioritizing safety and rescue operations, while interest in animal welfare has declined significantly.”

Read the full report summary here, along with more information on the findings for Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.

This warning comes from Copenhagen Business School lecturer Per Østergaard, following a study conducted by Østergaard and the Danish fundraising body ISOBRO.

Currently, 89% of the 74 respondents to the study are using ChatGPT 4.0, and 37% use Microsoft’s Copilot. The most common areas in which AI is used are communication (74%), fundraising (47%) and administration (29%).

When asked which departments they expect will grow in their use of tech and data in the next three years, 66% said fundraising. Three-fifths (59%) say that they hope their organisation will be able to use data to predict retention and churn in the future – in addition to 27% of organisations who say that they already do this.

However, many organisations are only using data in a tactical rather than strategic way, the report suggests – just 13% of respondents agreed with the statement ‘technologies are becoming a central part of our business strategy’.

Additionally, 64% of respondents to the survey say that there is a lack of understanding in their organisation on how to use new technology and data to improve their operations.

Østergaard says that organisations must adopt a “strategy focus” rather than a “technology focus”, in order to avoid the same mistakes that are often seen with projects such as CRM implementations – and that organisations need to “start with ‘why’ and consider ‘how’ afterwards. He says:

“Overall, AI presents great opportunities for fundraising organisations. This is both in relation to increasing the quality of work, and to efficiency – but it must be anchored strategically.”

Østergaard adds that in addition, organisations risk falling into the OO+NT = EOO trap – where OO means ‘old organisation’, NT means ‘new technology’ and EOO refers to ‘expensive old organisations. He first described this formula in 1999 to illustrate how “new technology does not automatically lead to improvements”, and says that it has proven accurate in many occasions in the intervening quarter of a century.

Photo by Junior Teixeira on Pexels

The trend is particularly strong in Norway. An article on the website of Fundraising Norge says that several members have contacted it after noticing that regular gifts were being cancelled through subscription management apps created by companies including Minna Technologies, which is based in Sweden, and Subaio, from Denmark. They are made available to customers through partnerships with banks.

One charity has lost 1,000 direct debit donors over three months thanks to these apps, Fundraising Norge says, while others are losing 50 or more per week.

ISOBRO, an EFA member representing charities in Denmark, said it had not seen the trend on such a large scale, but is aware of the issue.

Fundraising Norge says that while these apps distinguish between non-discretionary (tax, electricity bills and so on) and discretionary spending (Netflix and other subscriptions), they put charitable donations into the same category as those discretionary subscriptions.

Siri Nodland, secretary general of Fundraising Norge, says that these services appear to have “little understanding of the relationship between a donor and an organisation”, commenting:

“We react [negatively] to the banks telling their customers that they no longer ‘need’ to support an organisation. Supporting a non-profit organisation is not something you do to meet your own needs – you do it voluntarily to help others.”

Fundraising Norge has been requesting meetings with banks, but says that DNB is the only bank that “shows an understanding” of the sector’s concerns in this area.

Nodland also says that some charities believe that supporters had accidentally or unintentionally cancelled a recurring payment. She urges Fundraising Norge members to continue to send it evidence about direct debit cancellations, and the impact this has had on services and operations.

Meanwhile, Kenneth Kamp Butzbach, secretary general of ISOBRO, said:

“We are aware that it has become a business for some companies to charge for cancelling people’s subscriptions. Fortunately, it is not something we have seen on a large scale in Denmark yet, and we must honestly say that it is surprising to make a business out of something that all donors can do themselves either directly with the organization or through their bank.”

Main image by Rupixen on Pixabay

Vipps MobilePay commissioned the first Nordic Donor Survey of 4,000 people – 1,000 in each of the four Nordic nations. In total, 61% of Danes said they donate money regularly or occasionally, compared to 59% of Norwegians, 56% of Swedes and 42% of Finns.

In each country, women were more likely than men to donate, although the split was most pronounced in Norway (64% versus 54%) and more marginal in Sweden (57% versus 55%).

Asked which causes they had given money to in the last two months, ‘helping the disadvantaged in the home country’ was the top answer in Finland (38% of respondents who recently donated) and Denmark (27%), followed by ‘humanitarian aid and disasters’ with 21% and 26% respectively. Humanitarian aid and disasters was the number one answer in Norway (29%) and Sweden (28%).

Finns were more likely than others to have recently put money in a collection box, while Danes were the most likely to have given money via a mobile payment in the last two months.

In each of the four countries, more than a quarter of people said they had donated clothes or goods to a charity in the last two months ­– ranging from 26% in Finland to 31% in Sweden.

Looking ahead

Responding to questions about intended future giving, those in Sweden expressed growing interest in donating to animal welfare causes. Lower-income respondents from Sweden were also more likely to list a broader range of potential future causes.

Those in Finland (in particular younger Finns) also showed increased interest in animal welfare, while environmental and nature protection causes were significantly less interesting to those in Norway.

In Denmark, art and culture organisations were notably low on donors’ future giving lists, which the survey authors suggested might be the result of recent changes to the way foundations in Denmark support cultural activity.

Pia Tornikoski, general secretary of Finnish EFA member VaLa, comments:

“The fact that Finland may have less of a giving culture than its Nordic neighbours is in part because public funding has historically been more important to nonprofits, alongside the fact that only companies, and not individual Finns, can receive tax deductions when donating. With public funding streams drying up, the Government proposals to reform tax deduction rules become particularly important in harnessing the generosity which we know exists in the country.”

More on Finland’s tax deduction rules here.

Picture by Merja Partanen on Pixabay

It surveyed the Danish public to understand their perception of foundations during the corona crisis, as well as foundations on their expectations for providing grants in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

84 foundations took part, while KANTAR Gallup surveyed 2,066 members of the public. Of these individuals, just over two-thirds said that the role of foundations during the corona crisis was important or very important. When asked why, the top three reasons given were: because foundations support projects that are not otherwise supported, as well as particularly vulnerable groups, and long-term activity.

Six in ten foundations said they had provided grants to corona-related efforts. The grants come mainly from foundations with an annual grant level of more than DKK 10 million (EUR 1.3 million). Very large foundations, those with an annual grant level of more than DKK 100 million (EUR 13.4 million), have been particularly active during the pandemic, and of this group, 19 of 23 foundations have provided corona-related grants.

Just over a quarter (28%) of foundations are also planning to grant additional funding for corona-related efforts. This includes 14 of the 23 foundations with annual grants of more than DKK 100 million (EUR 13.4 million).

Most of the foundations expect to provide the same amount or more than they budgeted in 2020. However, those that do expect to reduce their grants in the period from 2020 to 2022 are found in across all groups, including the large foundations.

The study also questioned foundations about their expectations for their grants in 2020-2022. Most (81%) said they expected to provide the same or more this year, compared to their budgeted grants, falling slightly to 74% during 2021 and 2022. And, while relatively few foundations expect to reduce their grants in the period 2020 to 2022, they are found across all groups, including among large foundations.

In a blog on the analysis written for the Donors and Foundations Networks in Europe (DAFNE) site, Christian Edelvold Berg, Senior Analyst at the Knowledge Center for Danish Foundations, said the crisis has shed light on the close collaboration among foundations, civil society, and the public sector in Denmark.

He commented:

“We wondered whether the corona crisis would threaten the 2.2 billion euros in annual grants from Danish foundations affect the ability of foundations to support their activities. For civil society organisations especially, but also for universities and cultural institutions, the corona crisis has sparked uncertainty.

“We were able to conclude from our analysis, covering 1.5-1.6 billion euros in grants annually, that our worst fears were not confirmed – on the contrary, most foundations stated that they expected to grant the same amount as budgeted for 2020 or more.”