Fundraisers Optimistic About 2011, Survey Shows

• Organizations in four sectors reported an equal percentage of increases and decreases in donations — arts, education, environment/animals and human services.
• International organizations were the most likely to report increases in contributions, reflecting donations for disaster relief.
• A larger percentage of organizations reported decreases in donations than increases in the health, public-society benefit and religion sectors.
• The larger the organization's size based on total annual expenditures, the more likely the organization was to report an increase in charitable receipts in the first nine months of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009.
• About 22 percent of organizations used volunteers in positions that were formerly paid positions, up from 15 percent last year.
• Most fundraisers were hopeful about 2011 — about 47 percent planned budget increases, 33 percent expected to maintain their current level of expenditures and only 20 percent anticipated lower budgets.

Other highlights from the survey include: