Weathering the Storm: What Nonprofits Need to Know from Sowen’s 2025 State of Social Impact Report
This blog was written for our friends over at Social Impact Solutions and can be read on their Blog HERE.
Nonprofits are navigating a landscape that feels increasingly unpredictable. Economic pressures, shifting policies, and the rise of AI are colliding with persistent internal challenges like underfunding and data limitations—leaving many leaders overwhelmed and overstretched.
In our just-released 2025 State of Social Impact Report, we report findings derived from over 500 hours of interviews, the analysis of dozens of studies, and engagement of thousands across nonprofits, foundations, academia, government, and the private sector. Our findings surface both systemic barriers and bold opportunities—especially for nonprofits navigating a uniquely complex moment.
In this blog, we break down key themes from our report—what is holding nonprofits back, where the biggest opportunities lie, and what it takes to shift from survival to strategic impact.
The Current Climate: What Nonprofits are Up Against
If it feels like the ground keeps shifting under your feet, you’re not alone. Nonprofits are facing a perfect storm of external pressures and internal constraints. The 2025 landscape is marked by instability, rapid change, and rising expectations:
Government policy shifts are affecting charitable giving incentives, grant availability, and regulatory requirements, making it harder for nonprofits to plan long-term.
Economic uncertainty—including inflation and tightening public budgets—is squeezing both donors and funders, leading to more competition for fewer dollars.
Technological disruption—particularly with the rise of AI—means nonprofits are being asked to do more, faster, and with new tools they may not be ready to adopt.
Meanwhile, internal constraints compound these challenges:
Chronic underfunding and short-term fundraising cycles
Low adoption of data tools and systems to track what really matters
A widening gap between leadership perception and staff reality
Pressure to communicate value—but few resources to do it well
These challenges aren’t just anecdotal. Our research revealed that:
Only 38% of nonprofit respondents felt confident in their organization’s ability to use data to drive funding and revenue—the lowest confidence of any sector.
A staggering 75% of nonprofit executives report spending over 75% of their time on tactical (not strategic) work, leading to missed opportunities for long-term visioning and innovation.
Only 28% of nonprofit leaders are confident in their ability to communicate impact—a critical skill in today’s competitive funding landscape.
And only 31% of nonprofits feel confident in their data architecture and ability to use data as a primary decision-making tool, despite overwhelming evidence that data maturity drives better outcomes.
Theme #1: Resource Scarcity Isn’t Just About Money
Yes, nonprofits need more funding—but that’s just one part of the picture. As our report shows, nonprofits often lack time, talent, systems, and tools as well. This scarcity creates a “nonprofit hamster wheel,” where staff are stuck chasing short-term revenue and responding to immediate needs, with little space to build toward long-term strategy.
The consequence? Many organizations are unable to invest in innovation, training, or the kinds of data systems that funders increasingly expect. Our report shows that nonprofits, philanthropies, and foundations report the highest portion of time spent securing revenue—and the lowest ability to use data to drive it
What’s needed: Diversified funding models, operational efficiencies driven by data, and better support from funders—not just in dollars, but in capacity-building resources.
Theme #2: Measuring Impact is A Major Challenge
Funders, partners, and communities increasingly expect clear, compelling proof of impact. But the infrastructure to deliver on that expectation is often missing. The proof is in the data - our study revealed that:
The obstacles include:
Fragmented or siloed data
Subjective or inconsistent definitions of “impact”
Misaligned timeframes between funders (quarterly) and missions (multi-year)
This mismatch creates enormous strain—and often, a cycle of busywork over meaningful evaluation - hence the vast amount of time spent on tactical tasks.
What’s needed: Simple, scalable frameworks for measuring what matters, aligned with each organization’s purpose. As we write in the report, “Success demands data—but not just any data. The right data, connected to the right actions.”
Theme #3: Storytelling is No Longer Optional
In today’s noisy world, data alone doesn’t move hearts or open wallets. The most successful nonprofits pair rigorous metrics with compelling, human-centered storytelling.
Yet, as previously mentioned, only 28% of social impact leaders said they feel confident in their organization’s ability to tell its impact story effectively. Too often, reports are written for boards, not communities—and narratives that could inspire action remain untold.
What’s needed: A shift from reporting for compliance to storytelling for connection. When nonprofits blend data + narrative + visuals, they unlock new opportunities for funding, collaboration, and influence.
Theme #4: Time Must Be Reclaimed as a Strategic Resource
Perhaps the most precious resource nonprofits have isn’t money—it’s time. And yet, our research showed that time is often misallocated.
Leaders spend the bulk of their hours on tactical firefighting rather than strategic planning. This imbalance directly correlates with lower data maturity and weaker impact.
What’s needed: A radical reclaiming of time. Streamlined processes, better delegation, and more intentional calendars can free up space for the work that matters most: planning, reflecting, learning, and evolving.
The Path Forward
Nonprofits are operating in systems that make it incredibly hard to thrive. At Sowen, we believe the solutions exist—they just need to be made visible, viable, and actionable.
We’ve distilled our findings into several practical principles and tools that can help nonprofit leaders move from insight to impact:
1. Adopt a “Data-Forward” Mindset,
decision-making, communications, and strategy.
At Sowen, we’ve developed the Sowen Data Maturity Accelerator to help organizations assess where they are on their data journey across five key pillars: tools, processes, knowledge, culture and talent.
2. Put Strategy Back on the Calendar
Nonprofits need to break out of their tactical loops and turn to intentionally protecting and prioritizing time for strategic thinking, reflection, and learning.
Some ways to begin to do this might be:
Survey your organization on time spent on tactical versus strategic work
Implement a “no meetings” block weekly for forward-looking strategic work
Use quarterly retreats or working sessions to realign teams with mission and metrics
3. Tell the Whole Story - Not Just the Numbers
The organizations that stand out and secure more funding are those that are able to combine data and story to represent the mission, value and impact of their work. Some small ways nonprofits may begin to marry these tools and harness the power of storytelling include:
Pairing a key metric with a single quote from a beneficiary in your next report
Use visual dashboards to show progress over time
Center your storytelling around solutions, not just problems
If you’re ready to think differently about what’s next—we’d love to talk. Because when pragmatic idealists roll up their sleeves, the impossible becomes possible.
