Cyberattacks on nonprofits and civil society organizations increased by 241% between 2024 and 2025 (source: Cloudflare Project Galileo 11th Anniversary Radar Report, June 2025). That is not a typo. And the trend is not slowing down.
Nonprofits are now the second most targeted sector for cyberattacks globally, according to Okta’s 2025 Nonprofits at Work report. Not banks. Not government agencies. Nonprofits. Microsoft’s 2024 Digital Defense Report separately identifies them as the fourth most targeted category by nation-state actors.
The reason is simple. Attackers know most nonprofits run lean on IT, operate on tight budgets, and manage sensitive donor, client, and program data with little to no dedicated cybersecurity infrastructure. To a cybercriminal, that is an open door. This blog breaks down what is happening, why it matters, and how your organization can respond before an incident forces the conversation.
What Is Driving the Surge in Cyberattacks on Nonprofits?
The Cloudflare Project Galileo report documented 108.9 billion cyber threats blocked against protected nonprofits between May 2024 and March 2025. That averages to more than 325 million attacks per day. The scale is staggering, and it is not random.
Attackers target nonprofits because the risk-reward math works in their favor. Nonprofits hold data almost as valuable as banks (donor payment records, beneficiary personal information, sometimes federally regulated program data) but defend it with a fraction of the resources.
Three forces are compounding this problem in 2026. First, federal cybersecurity funding for nonprofits has been reduced significantly, per recent Dark Reading reporting on CISA and MS-ISAC cuts. Second, AI-powered phishing tools have made social engineering attacks far more convincing. Third, ransomware operators explicitly shifted focus toward smaller, less defended targets after larger enterprises hardened their defenses.
The result is a threat environment that looks fundamentally different from what it did even two years ago.
What Is Actually at Stake for Your Nonprofit?
A cyberattack on a nonprofit is not just an IT problem. It is an organizational crisis that affects operations, finances, donor trust, and mission delivery all at once.
A single ransomware attack can freeze your operations for days or weeks. A phishing breach can expose thousands of donor records. A compromised email account can redirect grant payments to a fraudulent bank account. A data breach can permanently damage trust that took your organization years to build.
The financial damage is often larger than leaders expect. According to Sarah Powazek at UC Berkeley’s Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity, losing $10,000 to $20,000 in a single invoice fraud scam is enough to put many small nonprofits out of business (source: Dark Reading, May 2026). For grant-funded organizations, even one visible incident can jeopardize future funding cycles.
The reputational damage runs even deeper. Donors and grantmakers now routinely ask about cybersecurity posture before committing funds. Boards increasingly ask executive directors what their incident response plan looks like. Reputation, once damaged, does not come back on a schedule that matches your fiscal year.
Why Nonprofits Are Being Targeted
Attackers follow the path of least resistance. Nonprofits present that path in five distinct ways.
Limited IT budgets. Most nonprofits allocate less than 5% of their budget to technology, and cybersecurity gets a fraction of that. Cybercriminals know this and exploit the gaps every day.
Sensitive data with high resale value. Donor information, beneficiary records, financial data, and health information all trade at premium prices on the dark web. Some nonprofits also collect Social Security numbers. According to UC Berkeley’s CyberCAN report, 75% of surveyed nonprofits reported that they collect Social Security numbers.
Small or nonexistent IT teams. UC Berkeley found that 53% of surveyed nonprofits have no full-time IT staff at all. Those that do have one full-time IT person for roughly every 96 employees. That ratio is not adequate in today’s threat environment.
Outdated tools. Many nonprofits still run legacy antivirus software built for a threat landscape that no longer exists. Modern ransomware and phishing attacks bypass these tools completely.
Staff as the primary attack vector. According to Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report, 68% of breaches across all sectors involved a human element (phishing, credential misuse, or social engineering). Nonprofits, which conduct significant business through volunteer board members, remote staff, and third-party vendors, carry above-average exposure in all three categories.
The Nonprofit Threat Landscape at a Glance
The table below summarizes the most current data on the nonprofit cyber threat environment as of 2026.
| Data Point | Finding | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Attack volume growth | 241% increase in cyberattacks on nonprofits between 2024 and 2025 | Cloudflare Project Galileo, 2025 |
| Threats blocked (11 months) | 108.9 billion, averaging 325.2 million per day | Cloudflare Project Galileo, 2025 |
| Sector ranking (targeted) | 2nd most targeted globally | Okta Nonprofits at Work Report, 2025 |
| Nation-state targeting rank | 4th most targeted category | Microsoft Digital Defense Report, 2024 |
| Nonprofits with no full-time IT | 53% | UC Berkeley CLTC CyberCAN Report, 2024 |
| Nonprofits that have experienced an attack | 85% | UC Berkeley CLTC CyberCAN Report, 2024 |
| Breaches involving human element | 68% (all sectors) | Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, 2024 |
| Nonprofits collecting Social Security numbers | 75% | UC Berkeley CLTC CyberCAN Report, 2024 |
What Smart Nonprofits Are Doing Differently
The nonprofits that are staying protected are not necessarily spending more money. They are spending more strategically.
They are moving away from outdated, reactive IT tools and toward AI-driven cybersecurity platforms that monitor their environments 24/7. These platforms detect threats before they become incidents and automate routine work that previously required a full IT team.
At Sectec, this is exactly how we support nonprofits across the United States. We deploy enterprise-grade AI tools like SentinelOne for endpoint protection and NinjaOne for IT management. These give nonprofits the same level of security that Fortune 500 companies rely on, at a cost that fits a nonprofit budget.
We also leverage volume licensing to reduce what nonprofits pay for the tools they need, including Microsoft 365, Proofpoint email security, and KnowBe4 security awareness training. Most of our clients reduce their overall IT spend while improving their security posture. That is not a marketing claim. That is math we can show you on paper during a free cybersecurity risk assessment.
The Practical Controls Every Nonprofit Should Have in Place
Modern nonprofit cybersecurity does not require an enterprise-sized budget. It does require a specific set of controls implemented well. Here are the ones that matter most.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) on every account. MFA alone stops the majority of account takeover attacks. Yet many nonprofits still have executive and finance accounts without it enabled.
Endpoint detection and response (EDR). Traditional antivirus does not stop modern ransomware. EDR platforms monitor endpoints in real time and can isolate compromised devices before an attack spreads. Sectec offers this through our network and endpoint security service.
Tested backup and recovery. Backups you have never tested may not actually work. Ransomware operators specifically target backup systems now. Sectec’s disaster recovery and backup service includes documented, tested recovery procedures.
Documented incident response plan. When an incident happens, decisions get made in the first hour that shape the next six months. Having a documented plan matters more than most nonprofits realize. Our incident response and forensics service is built for exactly this moment.
Ongoing security awareness training. Because 68% of breaches involve a human element, staff training is one of the highest-leverage investments a nonprofit can make. Sectec’s security awareness training is monthly, brief, and tuned to the actual threats your team faces.
Vendor risk management. Third-party breaches are one of the fastest growing attack vectors. Any vendor with access to donor data, financial systems, or program platforms must meet basic security standards.
The Free Assessment That Changes Everything
One of the most common things we hear from nonprofit leaders is that they do not know where their vulnerabilities are. They assume their current IT setup is adequate because nothing has visibly gone wrong yet. That assumption is dangerous.
Sectec offers a free cybersecurity risk assessment exclusively for nonprofits and mission-driven organizations. In 30 to 60 minutes, we give you a clear, honest picture of where your organization stands, what your biggest risks are, and what it would take to address them. No jargon. No sales pressure. Straight feedback from a team that works closely with nonprofits every day. Learn more or book one at our Free Risk Assessment page.
We are proud to be recognized as an Industry Expert in IT and Cybersecurity by the Center for Nonprofit Advancement, a reflection of the work we do supporting mission-driven organizations. You can review our certifications and technology partnerships here.
Noteworthy Info
Before you close this page, these are the takeaways your organization should not miss:
- Cyberattacks on nonprofits jumped 241% between 2024 and 2025 — the highest single-year increase ever documented in the sector
- Nonprofits are now the second most targeted sector globally (Okta, 2025) and the fourth most targeted by nation-state actors (Microsoft, 2024)
- 85% of surveyed nonprofits have already experienced at least one cyberattack (UC Berkeley CLTC, 2024)
- 68% of breaches involve a human element (Verizon DBIR, 2024). Staff training is one of the highest-impact investments a nonprofit can make
- Cyber insurance renewals are now denying coverage to nonprofits without basic controls like MFA, EDR, and documented incident response
- The free Sectec assessment gives you a full picture in 30–60 minutes with no obligation
- You do not need an enterprise budget to be secure. You need the right controls implemented well and a partner who understands the nonprofit environment
The Bottom Line
A 241% increase in cyberattacks on nonprofits is not a statistic to read and move on from. It is a signal that the threat environment has fundamentally changed and that the old approach to IT and cybersecurity is no longer enough.
Your mission is too important to be derailed by a preventable cyberattack. The cost of prevention is a fraction of the cost of recovery, and the assessment that starts that conversation is free.
Ready to find out where your organization stands? Contact Sectec today or book your free cybersecurity risk assessment. We are here to help protect the mission you have worked so hard to build.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why are cyberattacks on nonprofits increasing so dramatically?
Attackers have shifted focus toward smaller, less defended organizations as large enterprises have hardened their defenses. Nonprofits hold valuable data (donor payment information, beneficiary records, program data) but often lack the IT and cybersecurity budgets that private-sector organizations of similar size would maintain. Combined with AI-powered phishing tools that make social engineering more convincing, the risk-reward math now favors attackers.
2. What kind of cyberattacks are nonprofits actually facing?
The most common are phishing and business email compromise (BEC), ransomware, invoice fraud, and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. UC Berkeley’s research found that phishing and BEC top the list for most nonprofits. Cloudflare’s Project Galileo data shows DDoS attacks growing faster than any other category against civil society organizations.
3. Do small nonprofits really need cybersecurity, or is this only for larger organizations?
Small nonprofits are frequently the primary targets. Attackers assume smaller organizations have weaker defenses, and the data confirms this. A single successful attack on a small nonprofit can be existential. Losing $10,000 to $20,000 in invoice fraud is enough to close many small organizations, according to UC Berkeley research.
4. What are the first three things a nonprofit should do to improve cybersecurity?
Enable multi-factor authentication on every account, especially executive, finance, and administrative accounts. Deploy modern endpoint detection and response (not just traditional antivirus). Run staff security awareness training on a recurring, not annual, basis. These three changes address the majority of common attack paths and cost far less than most nonprofits assume.
5. How much does managed cybersecurity actually cost a nonprofit?
Costs vary significantly based on size, complexity, and current setup. Most small to mid-sized nonprofits (10 to 200 staff) find that a comprehensive managed IT and security package costs less than the fully loaded cost of one full-time IT hire. Volume licensing on Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and security tools further reduces total spend. Sectec’s free risk assessment can produce a specific budget estimate for your organization.
6. What is a cybersecurity risk assessment, and what should we expect from one?
A risk assessment is a structured review of your organization’s IT and security posture. It looks at where sensitive data lives, who has access to it, what controls exist, and where the gaps are. A good assessment produces a prioritized list of findings, a clear explanation of the business impact of each, and specific recommendations you can act on. Sectec’s assessment takes 30 to 60 minutes for the intake and produces a report in three weeks. There is no cost and no obligation.
Sectec provides AI-driven IT and cybersecurity services for nonprofits, medical clinics, and mission-driven organizations across the United States. We are recognized as an Industry Expert by the Center for Nonprofit Advancement and partner with Microsoft, Google Workspace, SentinelOne, NinjaOne, Proofpoint, and KnowBe4. Learn more about our work or book your free cybersecurity risk assessment today.
