Fundraising Study Results Released

N O N P R O F I T   U P D A T E

December 20, 2011

Fundraising Study Results Released

For additional information and discussion on this topic, please contact your HW&Co. professional advisor or one of our HW&Co. Principals.

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The Nonprofit Research Collaborative recently released their fundraising study for early Summer/Fall 2011.

Background & Overview
813 responding charities were surveyed about the directions of change in giving, fundraising methods used, where area organizations are investing more in fundraising, and when/if organizations track fundraising costs, including direct expenses and staff time. The findings from this survey have been summarized below to show how fundraising has changed over the past year. 

Has Giving Changed?
The direction of change in giving is positive when comparing first half of 2011 with the first half of 2010.  

·       44% reported an increase in gifts received from all philanthropic sources

·       25% reported gifting as being the same

·       30% reported a decline

When compared to a comparable survey in 2007:

·       65% of organizations reported increases 

·       < 25% conveyed declines

Does Size Really Matter?
The direction of change was greater for those charities with larger budgets. For charities with budgets of $3 million or greater, 57% stated increases in contributions, compared to the 44% above.

There were few differences by region, but most subsectors were consistent with the 44% increase. However, the human services and international subsectors showed more significant variations:

·       50% of human services organizations reported increases 

·       20% of international charities reported increases

Single vs. Corporate
Since 75% of the nation’s charitable giving derives from living individuals, it was no surprise to see that most responding charities focused on individual donors for their fundraising support. 84% of the responding charities reported receiving board gifts and major gifts as a traditional method of raising funds. 81% used direct mailings and 82% used special events to raise funds.

89% of foundations and 86% of corporations reported active fundraising initiatives, which are far higher than federated campaigns such as the United Way and Jewish Federations (42%) or Congregations (36%).

Staffing
Mid-sized charities, those with expenditures in the range of $1 million to $3 million, were most likely to increase effort of paid professional staff for fundraising (51%) and paid administrative/support staff for fundraising (36%). Charities with $250,000 to $1 million in expenditures were most likely to increase the level of efforts of volunteers organizing fundraising events (39%).

Technology
Organizations are investing more in technology-facilitated giving, such as internet, emails and social media to further their reach to individual donors. 80% of respondents reported that they have added social networking to their fundraising methods. Email requests and other forms of internet fundraising are also high-growth areas.

Tracking
80% of charities track their fundraising expenses and 81% track revenue by method of fundraising at least some of the time during the period surveyed. Staff time tracking, however, was less frequent. 53% tracked staff time at least some of the time while 41% never track staff time by method.

Interestingly, the probability of staff time tracking increased with organization size. 56% of charities with budgets of $3 million or greater tracked staff time, compared to 45% of charities with budgets of $250,000 or less.

While the first half of 2011 appears more positive than the first half of 2010 in gift receipts from fundraising methods, the results still lag behind the 2007 figures. The results of this survey suggest that fundraising continues to challenge organizations throughout the country for organizations of all sizes and types.

This convenience sample survey can provide potential benchmarking opportunities to help organizations plan for future fundraising efforts. Please contact your HW Nonprofit Advisor for additional details and to discuss best methods of fundraising for your organization.

Sincerely,