Where the ~$72 estimate comes from
Start with one sale. A supporter buys something from a participating local merchant. The merchant keeps the large majority of the sale, and a share of their profit — your nonprofit receives 10% of the merchant's profit on that transaction — is directed to the cause the supporter chose. On any single purchase that's typically a few dollars. Small, by design.
Now stretch it across a year. A supporter who routes a modest, realistic amount of their everyday local spending through the marketplace generates that profit-share again and again. Add up a year of ordinary purchases and a typical active supporter lands at roughly $72 per year. We use this deliberately as a conservative planning number — it assumes ordinary spending, not heavy shopping, so your real result is more likely to meet or beat it than fall short.
The per-supporter logic, in one line
A few dollars of profit-share per purchase × a year of everyday local spending ≈ $72 per active supporter per year (estimate). Shoppers also save about 10%, so participating costs them nothing extra.
Scaling: what it looks like at 100, 250, 500 and 1,000 supporters
Because the per-supporter number is roughly fixed, the lever that moves your total is how many active supporters you enroll. Here's the arithmetic at four common milestones.
| Active supporters | Per supporter / yr (est.) | Estimated annual total | Roughly equivalent to |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | ~$72 | ~$7,200 / yr | A small recurring grant — with no application |
| 250 | ~$72 | ~$18,000 / yr | A part-time stipend or program line |
| 500 | ~$72 | ~$36,000 / yr | A meaningful unrestricted salary or budget gap |
| 1,000 | ~$72 | ~$72,000 / yr | A reliable, recurring program budget |
Notice what these have in common: every figure is recurring and unrestricted, and once supporters enroll, it arrives with almost no ongoing staff labor. That's the structural advantage over event-by-event fundraising, where the work repeats every time you want the money.
Why it compounds
A passive base behaves differently from a one-time campaign because of two compounding effects:
- Supporters don't churn back to zero. Once someone picks your cause, they keep funding you year after year with no new action. Last year's enrollees are still producing while you recruit this year's.
- Your base grows as you keep promoting. Every newsletter, email signature and event adds supporters on top of the ones already producing — so the annual total builds on itself rather than resetting.
The result is a line that climbs: 100 supporters this year, 250 next, 500 the year after — each level stacking on a floor that doesn't disappear. For the playbook on growing that base, see the supporter enrollment playbook and how to build a recurring funding base.
Honest caveats
We'd rather under-promise. Treat every number on this page as a planning estimate, and set your board's expectations accordingly.
- $72 is an estimate, not a guarantee — actual results depend on how much each supporter spends locally
- "Active" is the key word — only enrolled supporters who actually shop locally generate funds
- It starts slow — the first month is quiet; the value shows up across a full year
- Enrollment is the bottleneck — your total is capped by how many supporters you sign up, not by spending alone
- It's one leg of a base — pair it with monthly giving and grants; see the funding mix
Model your own numbers
The tables above use a single conservative per-supporter estimate, but your community is unique. Plug in your own supporter count to see an estimated recurring annual total in about a minute.
Run the numbers for your org
Our passive funding calculator turns your supporter count into an estimated recurring annual total — try a few scenarios to set a realistic goal for your first year.
This is the model behind every number above
Good Circles is a community marketplace launching September 2026. Supporters pick your cause once, then a share of their everyday local spending funds you automatically — about $72 per active supporter per year (≈ $36,000/year from 500 supporters), recurring and unrestricted. Your nonprofit gets 10% of merchant profit per sale; shoppers save about 10%; it's free to join, with Founding Nonprofit status for early adopters.
Claim a Founding Nonprofit spot →Sources & tools
Free first
- M+R Benchmarks (current year) — Fundraising charts — Free, citable per-donor and recurring-giving figures to ground your own per-supporter and aggregate math.
- Giving USA — Annual giving data (highlights) — The authoritative national baseline for total U.S. giving, useful for sizing what a passive channel can realistically contribute.
- IRS — Unrelated Business Income Tax: Exceptions and Exclusions — Determines whether passive payouts are net (tax-free) or net of UBIT — a real input to honest per-dollar math.
- Propel Nonprofits — Financial management & true cost resources — Free tools for modeling revenue, reserves, and the true cost of a fundraising channel against its yield.
- Candid Learning — Fundraising courses (course catalog) — Free courses covering donor-value and lifetime-value concepts behind per-supporter projections.
Paid — optional labor-savers
- QuickBooks for Nonprofits — Tracks actual passive deposits so projected math can be reconciled against reality. Worth it when Worth it when you want to compare modeled per-supporter yield to what actually lands each month.
- Bloomerang — CRM that reports per-donor value and retention, the inputs to passive-funding projections. Worth it when Worth it when you need real retention and active-supporter counts to replace estimates in your math.
Last verified 2026-06-16. Figures and rules change — verify at the source before you act.
FAQ
Where does the ~$72 per supporter per year estimate come from?
It's a conservative planning estimate. On each sale a nonprofit receives 10% of the merchant's profit — typically a few dollars per purchase. Multiply a modest amount of everyday local spending across a year by that profit share and a typical active supporter lands around $72 per year. It's an estimate, not a guarantee, and depends on how much each supporter spends locally.
How much could 500 supporters raise?
At roughly $72 per active supporter per year, about 500 active supporters would produce around $36,000 per year, recurring and unrestricted. 100 supporters is about $7,200, 250 is about $18,000, and 1,000 is about $72,000 — all estimates that depend on enrollment and spending.
Why does passive funding compound?
Two reasons. Your supporter base tends to grow over time as you keep promoting your link, and once a supporter enrolls they keep funding you year after year with no new effort. New supporters add to a base that doesn't churn back to zero, so the annual total builds on itself.