You’re probably already turning your attention to the upcoming giving season. And so are we! So let’s kick things off. We’ve got some important news to share in this article – a preview of more to come to warm you up for strategic planning and fundraising in the months ahead.

Our 2025 theme: innovation & community

Everyone’s talking about it: These are tough times for nonprofits. Among other things, you're buffeted by tough economic headwinds, federal funding cuts, and both new laws and belligerent political posturing that demonize the good work of nonprofits. 

In the face of so much turbulence, many standard operating procedures don’t apply. Nonprofits have been reimagining their fundraising practices and looking at how to expand their circles of community, especially the people who are most directly impacted by the work they do.

That is why we’ll focus this giving season on INNOVATION and COMMUNITY.

Expanded support: webinars and tools

Given the need for reinvention and outreach, we’re mobilizing all of our resources to help you navigate the next three months. It isn’t just about GivingTuesday; it's about building momentum through the end of the year and beyond!

A big first step: build a GivingTuesday Game Plan

If you don’t already have a structured program, set one up to get you from today to GiveTuesday and then through the end of the year.

If you don’t really know where to start, use the free outline we’ve pulled together to guide you every step of the way. Yes, you read that right: our GivingTuesday Playbook is free and includes:

• 🗓️ A four-phase plan to guide strategy through the end of the year.
• ❤️ Strategies to engage and inspire donors without overwhelming them.
• 🤝 Simple ways to empower board members and volunteers as fundraising champions.
• 🎁 Pro tips for using our free products, like Campaign Pages and Text-to-Donate, to boost results.
• 🌱 Stewardship strategies that keep the GivingTuesday energy going strong.

Interested in getting your hands on this? Visit our GivingTuesday Game Plan page and fill out a form for instant access.

You’ll also be able to: 

• 🔁 Watch the replay of our GivingTuesday Game Plan webinar – Revisit the key takeaways of how to turn one big day into year-end success.
• 🔦 Explore the vault – Check out our GivingTuesday Toolkit with editable Canva templates designed around GivingTuesday.

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Community Office Hours

If you have questions at other times, keep in mind our casual weekly Community Office Hours, held every Friday from 3 pm to 4 pm ET. Sign up here.

New features: for GivingTuesday and beyond 

Thus far in 2025, we’ve been refining our platform, adding and improving features that will aid your fundraising throughout the year. 

Here’s an overview of what we’ve done, what more to expect in time for the giving season and what to get excited about in 2026.

New and ready today

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Strategic 1-1 support for nonprofits expanded

We launched Give Lively Grow, our free capacity-building initiative that nurtures member nonprofits for success through one-on-one strategy sessions, practical tools and tailored guidance.

Expanded payment processing with lower fees

There’s progress on the rollout of our newest payment processor, offering the most competitive third-party transaction fees in the industry. It's currently available for one-time card payments, with recurring payments and more payment methods to come.

New donor capabilities in the User Portal 

Several design and functionality improvements were made to the User Portal, our secure online portal for donors, including upgrades to navigation, information access and payment management.

A new pricing comparison page

We’ve added a new “pricing” page to our website to make clear that every Give Lively fundraising platform feature is free for nonprofits. You’ll also find a chart drawing insightful contrasts between Give Lively and a trio of other fundraising platforms.

A new nonprofit resources page

It takes a village to help a village. In that spirit, we’ve begun sharing information about values-aligned service organizations that can be used alongside Give Lively to complement our products and services. 

Feature standardization

We’ve jumped toward feature consistency across all products and payment methods.

• Donors are now also able to cover third-party transaction fees on digital wallet payments.
• Our new payment form is in use on Team Fundraising pages as well.
• Custom Questions can be asked on Peer-to-Peer Fundraising and Team Fundraising pages, in addition to Campaign Pages.

Pre-membership access to the Nonprofit Admin Portal

Membership applicants now gain partial access to the Nonprofit Admin Portal before membership approval, so they can explore our platform. Applicants and new members also receive a series of emails outlining the full capabilities of the platform.

In the works for giving season

A refresh of our Simple Donation Widget

We’re almost ready to release an update of the look, feel and operations of our popular Simple Donation Widget.

Suggested donation amount customization

You’ll be able to display suggested donation amounts unique to each payment frequency, as well as disable a specific frequency.

Donor receipts downloads

Nonprofits will be able to download (individually or in bulk) copies of the automatic thank-you email/receipt sent to donors for payments through GIve Lively.

Donor lists available to peer-to-peer fundraisers

An individual fundraiser will have access to a list of people who donated through their fundraising pages.

Coming in 2026

• DAF (donor-advised fund) donations
• Boosted gifting (urging donors to make recurring payments, not just one-time)
• Additional payment frequencies
• A major refresh of our Event Ticketing product
• Expanded subscription management tools
• Improvements to the Nonprofit Admin Portal and data reporting
• Enhanced security 

Major 2025 milestone 

In July, Give Lively turned 10 and celebrated a decade of inspiration, innovation, impact and, most importantly, powering nonprofit missions.