Research-informed report identifies seven key insights along with recommendations and resources to guide nonprofit and foundation leaders in the year ahead.
ROCKVILLE, Md., Feb. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The 2026 Insights on Purpose™ Report, released today, examines how nonprofit and foundation leaders assess their impact, readiness for change, and the outlook ahead. Informed by research that engaged more than 400 leaders of U.S.-based nonprofits and foundations and developed by Mission Partners with support from the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the report details how nonprofit and foundation leaders answered questions related to resilience, finances, purpose, and technology. The report shares the findings and distills them into seven key insights and offers a set of recommendations and resources that can help nonprofit and foundation leaders with their planning and decision-making in the year ahead.
"Nonprofit and foundation leaders are navigating remarkable complexity today, marked by heightened demand for services, economic strain, political shifts, and rapid technological advances," said Brian Fox, Chief Strategy Officer of Mission Partners, a women-owned and Certified B Corporation social impact and strategic communications firm headquartered in Rockville, MD. "The 2026 Insights on Purpose Report provides those leaders with a view into the experiences of their peers in a way that can help shape strategic thinking and decision-making in the months to come."
The Insights on Purpose Report gathers insights from both nonprofit and foundation leaders, making it possible to assess their perspectives independently and to compare and contrast them to deeply understand the current environment for mission-driven organizations. The report also focuses exclusively on assessing the perspectives of the people leading nonprofits and foundations in the United States.
"Throughout the turbulence of the past year, it's been clear that nonprofits and foundations need to hear more from one another about the challenges they are facing," said Stacy Palmer, CEO of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, an independent media organization that provides trustworthy information, actionable insights, analysis, and training to charitable organizations. "In this fresh data, we see that the gaps in understanding are wider than many people may have realized, and we're eager to lead discussions that help the social sector come together to rethink how best to serve society in a fast-changing environment."
Key Insights at a Glance
Seven key insights emerged from the research:
- Insight 1: Challenges, Meet Confidence. In 2025, leaders experienced a striking duality between experiencing real, multifaceted challenges today and projecting more confidence than might be expected about their five-year outlook. Nonprofits report more significant challenges; foundations report higher confidence.
- Insight 2: Differing Views on Organizational Resilience: While nonprofits and foundations report confidence in weathering the challenges over the next five years and both tend to value the same factors as most important to ensuring organizational resilience, under the surface, nonprofit leaders express doubts about just how resilient their organizations are, compared to the high resilience reported by foundations.
- Insight 3: Financial Realities and the Cost to Mission Advancement: Nonprofits face profound financial strain, while foundations, as expected, remain on solid ground. Funding shifts have left nonprofits scrambling to fill gaps while demand rises, threatening their ability to deliver on their mission.
- Insight 4: Strategizing for Future Impact and Readiness. Strategic planning has become harder for all, and both nonprofits and foundations are reassessing strategies and approaches. As foundations rethink their grantmaking, it poses a clear challenge for nonprofits — but can also be an opportunity for the organizations that make their case effectively to current and prospective funders.
- Insight 5: The Great Reframe. Many organizations are reframing their work, especially nonprofits under public scrutiny and whose values are being publicly challenged. Nonprofits found it even more necessary to reframe how they described their work to funders and their core values to the public in the past year.
- Insight 6: The Next Digital Divide: AI. Organizations know AI matters, but feel behind in leveraging it. Similar majorities of nonprofits and foundations say they are "behind the curve" on using AI. For nonprofits in particular, funding constraints pose a significant challenge to adopting new technology.
- Insight 7: Closing the Gap Will Be A Group Effort. As nonprofits dig deep to meet the moment and provide their services with fewer resources, foundations are showing up as well, with a majority increasing their outflows. Their missions are intertwined, yet our research shows a relationship shaped by a fundamental lack of understanding. Meeting this moment could hinge on mutual understanding.
The report further outlines four recommendations, presented by Mission Partners. Mission Partners based these recommendations on their analysis of the 2026 Insights on Purpose Study, drawing on collective decades of experience working alongside nonprofit and foundation leaders.
How to Access and Learn More About the Report
- Visit the Insights on Purpose website at www.InsightsOnPurpose.us.
- Review coverage of the report.
- Explore the Mission Forward podcast about the report.
About Mission Partners
Mission Partners is a Certified B Corporation™ and a Certified Women-Owned® social impact communications firm that counsels global nonprofits, foundations, and purpose-driven organizations across the U.S. and around the world, as well as the partners who fund and support their work. Their expertise is in guiding organizations to realize their greatest moments of impact to effect positive and lasting social change. Learn more: mission.partners
About the Chronicle of Philanthropy
The Chronicle of Philanthropy is a nonprofit media organization that provides nonprofits and foundations with trustworthy information, actionable insights, analysis, and training they need to carry out their essential missions. Thousands of people across the social sector rely on the Chronicle to stay informed about key issues, learn new approaches, broaden their perspectives, and accelerate their careers. Find out more at philanthropy.com.
Media Contact
Nick Stetz (Vice President of Marketing), Mission Partners, 1 4104099334, [email protected], https://mission.partners/
SOURCE Mission Partners
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