Christmas Eve was the biggest giving day over the festive period last year, according to new research.
Fundraising platform goDonate’s 2026 Online Christmas Donations Insights Report says that 24 December 2025 accounted for 6.2% of the month’s volume of donations.
Festive giving generally peaked late, the report says, with 15.4% of all one-off donations during the month made between 22 and 24 December.
About one in six donations made during December 2025 occurred in the final 72 hours before Christmas Day, the report says.
Vicky Reeves, goDonate chief executive and founder, said: “For fundraising teams planning Christmas 2026, the message is simple: don't wind down too early.
“The final days of the campaign must be treated as some of the most important; not the point at which activity is ending.”
Rise in donations via mobile phones
About two-thirds of Christmas Eve donations were made using a phone, 10 percentage points above the average for all days in December, the report says.
Some 53% of payments were made the day before Christmas using PayPal, Apple Pay or Google Pay, it reads.
“Our wider 2025 data shows that this is part of a broader change in donor behaviour,” goDonate stated.
In 2025 as a whole, mobile donations accounted for 58% of one-off donation transactions, with digital wallets making up 49%.
Reeves urged charities to tailor campaigns to mobile use the closer charities get to Christmas.
“It’s equally crucial to note how important mobile is becoming for online giving,” she said. “Mobile user experience must be as quick and frictionless as possible for donors.”
Giving Tuesday now a ‘meaningful UK fundraising moment’
In 2024, Giving Tuesday (3 December) was ranked as the top day for festive donations, amassing 5.2% of the month’s contributions per day, according to research from fellow platform Enthuse.
Last year, Giving Tuesday (which fell on 2 December) was the third busiest one-off giving day that month, surpassed by 23 December and Christmas Eve, according to goDonate’s research.
Nevertheless, the report says Giving Tuesday has risen in prominence to become a “meaningful UK fundraising moment”.
Meanwhile, 2% of December one-off donations were made on Christmas Day itself, the new report says.
The report also says that a third more regular gifts were started in December 2025 than in the year prior.
Average gift values amounted to £46.55 in December 2025, marginally above £45.84 in 2024, according to the report.
“Charities should therefore be cautious about automatically lowering suggested donation amounts because of assumptions about household finances,” goDonate added.
