The ongoing difficulty raising funds is reported in an article from The Chronicle of Philanthropy, with links at the jump.
An excerpt.
“Charities are barely raising enough money from new and repeat donors to keep up with the losses from people who have stopped giving, according to a new study of donor records for 2,377 charities.
“In total, the charities in the study raised more than $1.6-billion last year. But for every $5.35 that they received in donations, they lost $5.54 from donors who gave less or stopped giving altogether.
“As a result, contributions fell by an average of 1.9 percent.
“That finding, however, shows improvement over the previous two years, when the charities fell even further behind in contributions.
“The charities in the study lost an average of 17.7 percent in contributions during 2009 after flat returns the year before.
“The charities in the study also did better in increasing the number of people who support their organizations, with an average 1.7-percent increase in supporters, compared with a 2.2-percent loss in 2009.
“Charities are not paying enough attention to retaining the donors that they worked so hard to get in previous years,” said Elizabeth Boris, director of the Urban Institute’s Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, which released the study with the Association of Fundraising Professionals. “Nonprofits have to get better at telling current donors what they’ve accomplished and building that connection that will last.”
About
- David H. Lukenbill
- I am a California native, married, we have one daughter and live close to the American River with two cats and all the wild critters we can feed. I am a management consultant to nonprofit organizations and have an Associates of Arts degree in Administration of Justice from Sacramento City College, a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Behavior from the University of San Francisco and a Master of Public Administration degree, also from the University of San Francisco.