A TLDR of our 2025 Impact Report

We recently released our 2025 Impact Report, and I wanted to share some of the biggest highlights from it. 2025was a big year for us. It was also a complicated one for the entire industry. Between the ongoing attacks on marginalized communities, federal funding freezes hitting nonprofits, and a platform landscape that kept shifting under everyone's feet, the organizations and creators in our network still showed up when it mattered most. Before we get into the numbers, It’s important for us to say thank you 💜

THE FINAL 2025 NUMBERS

Across all of our campaigns in 2025, here's where we landed:

• 187.6 million total views

• 13.7 million total likes

• 1.4M total saves & shares

• 8.99% average engagement rate

• $2,024.52 average creator payout

We also saw a clear shift toward longer, more sustained creator programs rather than one-off campaigns. Organizations are thinking in terms of months, not moments. And it's working.

On the social media platform side, TikTok content averaged a 15% engagement rate while Instagram averaged 6%. Both remain critical channels, but the gap tells you something about where audiences are most actively engaging with creator content right now. Keep in mind that this could change quickly with the recent acquisition of TikTok by Trump-friendly billionaires and reports of censorship continue to increase.

In the full report, we dive into more examples of massive changes that have already begun and are coming to the digital impact space. Check out our Industry Analysis & Creator Payout Data starting at Page 4

THREE LESSONS THAT SHAPED OUR PLAYBOOK

We distilled the year's work into three core lessons. These came from real campaigns with real results, and they're guiding everything we're working on in 2026 and beyond.

1. Culture First, Politics Second

   Our work on the Spanberger for Governor campaign in partnership with Double Tap, proved that leading with culture, not just politics, builds the kind of trust that actually moves people. We spent weeks engaging non-political, Virginia-based creators around the issues they cared about before ever naming a candidate. By the time the campaign ramped up, audiences were already primed. The result: 19.7 million views, a 7.98% engagement rate, and 111 pieces of content from 37 creators.

2. Start Early, Move Fast

   Our partnership with the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) showed what happens when you invest in creator relationships before you have an ask for them. We built a months-long program focused on lasting relationships between NILC, aligned creators, and their audiences. The first 18 posts earned 2.3 million views and a 13.2% engagement rate, nearly double industry standards. And when a rapid-response moment hit (the arrest of Jackie Merlos and her four U.S. citizen children), we were ready. Dr. Jennifer Lincoln, a creator who had already been working with NILC, shared the story within days. It went viral, drove over 5,000 petition signatures, and Merlos was eventually released from ICE detention.

3. Diverse Content and Message Discipline Work Together

   With SEIU, we launched a multi-channel creator program amplifying pro-labor voices at a time when attacks on workers were escalating. Creators reached audiences across workers' rights, progressive parenting, education, healthcare, and lifestyle communities. The program generated 5.2 million views and 580K engagements. We also established a Labor Circle where ambassador creators meet monthly to share experiences, build community, and workshop content together.

You can learn more about our work for these campaigns and check out content examples starting on Page 13 of the report!

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Here's something worth sitting with: 20% of all U.S. adults now say social media creators are their primary news source. For Gen Z, that number is 40%. Meanwhile, Democratic campaigns and progressive organizations spent billions on broadcast TV ads last year while investing only millions in creators. The gap between where audiences actually are and where resources are being directed is still enormous. We have to keep making efforts to shift that trend by investing in adaptable creator programs.

While the majority of this blog post has been the TL;DR (too long, didn't read) version of our Impact Report, there is still so much content in the actual report we share including 3 major investments that Social Currant is making this year, what we’re building and how we’re responding to such an unpredictable industry. If you haven’t already (or even if you have and want a refresher), check out the full report here.