D.C. and N.Y. Charities Reveal Recession Jitters in New Surveys

Ms. Brandel, who works in New York, says this contrast jumped out at her from the surveys’ results.

“I asked my D.C. office about that, and I said, ‘Is it just that New Yorkers are more pessimistic?’ And they said, ‘Probably yes,’” she says.

But, she adds, the then-impending inauguration of President Obama may have also helped lift the morale of Washington’s nonprofit leaders, her colleagues told her. “The political change that was coming made everyone there sort of relieved in a sense. They were very excited about Obama’s team coming on board, and so they were looking forward to it. Everyone there had a sense of a new beginning, and so the optimism there was even greater than it usually is.”