A recently released report from BBB Wise Giving Alliance examines, among other topics related to privacy and nonprofits, Americans’ “preferences and concerns regarding donor privacy and security in the giving process.” Survey results featured in the 2025 Give.org Donor Trust Special Report: Privacy and Security point to a clear conclusion: Americans want their personal information to remain private when giving to nonprofit organizations.

Here are some key findings from the report:

• 69% of those surveyed expressed concern about the security of their personal information from the threat of hacking when making charitable contributions, and 80% said they would stop or hold off on giving to an organization that’s been hacked and had information stolen.
• When asked about key nonprofit accountability factors, adequate protection of donor information ranked third in importance, behind only how an organization spends its money and whether fundraising appeals are truthful. 45% of participants rated the importance of safeguarding donor information a 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale.
• Only 6.5% of Americans surveyed reported being “not at all concerned” about an organization sharing their information, and 62% said they are “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” that giving to a charity might result in the sharing of their name, address, or other information outside the organization. More than 1 in 3 said they’ve asked an organization not to share their personal information.
• When prompted to rate the importance of not sharing different types of personal information without consent, 60% gave their address a 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale, 52% rated information “about the amounts and frequency of donations” a 9 or 10, and 45% gave the same level of importance to their name alone.
• Among different definitions of “data security,” the description most in line with respondents’ understanding was “protecting information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure,” beating out “not sharing information with other organizations” and “ensuring information is securely transferred during a transaction.”

Considering the strong support for privacy in nonprofit giving, it may come as a surprise to many Americans that, every year, legislation aimed at forcing nonprofits to expose the names, addresses, and donation histories of their supporters is introduced in Congress and in states across the country. Why? Because myopic politicians motivated by a desire to harm particular organizations seek to exploit what this survey affirms: Nonprofits will suffer if they’re unable to safeguard donors’ personal information.

As the Supreme Court has noted in multiple rulings spanning decades, donor disclosure mandates are an effective means of chilling speech and association. This explains why nonprofit donor disclosure bills are consistently championed by elected officials frustrated by nonprofits’ civic engagement. Under virtually all of these proposals, nonprofits speaking about policy issues central to their missions’ trigger donor disclosure when their communications meet, whether knowingly or not, a vague definition of regulated speech. Short of outright banning inconvenient speech from ideological opponents, going after the privacy of organizations’ donors is the next best option to silence critics. Of course, these bills threaten the First Amendment rights of all nonprofits, not just those being targeted by disgruntled lawmakers, and sponsors are sometimes shocked to discover that friendly organizations oppose their donor disclosure proposals.

Fortunately, not all elected officials are so shortsighted, and many have voted to prevent their retribution-minded colleagues from undermining Americans’ right to privately support nonprofits. While many donor exposure bills are introduced each year, far more are defeated than passed. Often, nonprofits across the ideological spectrum come together to speak out against such legislation. Similarly, diverse coalitions of state-based nonprofit organizations have put aside their differences to support legislation protecting donor privacy – because the erosion of private giving is a threat to every nonprofit, regardless of cause or viewpoint.

Whether due to a desire to avoid unwanted solicitations, concerns about misuse by bad actors, or fear of politically motivated targeting, nonprofit donors care about privacy. And while this survey was not intended to support or oppose particular government policies, state and federal lawmakers should give serious consideration to the privacy concerns reflected in the results when weighing proposals that would force nonprofits to expose sensitive donor information. Better yet, the law should proactively defend nonprofit donor privacy rights, as it does in many states already. After all, an organization’s internal efforts to safeguard the personal information of their supporters will mean little when faced with a government mandate to hand over donor lists to leaky agencies or aggrieved politicians.