Sector Report: Fundraising 2009-2010

Our sector desperately needs strategy — collectively we need to infuse a new way of thinking about fundraising. Many charities are simply copying each other's tactics without an understanding of how it may help or hurt their positioning in the hearts and minds of their constituents.

Richard Pordes, president, Richard M Pordes LLC
Perhaps I'm a hopeless optimist, but like home prices and GNP growth, we must never forget that the last five years before 2008 saw unprecedented growth in charitable giving. Let's stop talking about a recession and talk about a correction! Whatever goes up so quickly in just a few years must inevitably pause to take a breath. The charities that have seen dramatic growth since 2002 are seeing the biggest declines, and they are still way ahead of where they were in that very same year. 2010 will see a resumption of the upward trend we've seen since 2002, just starting at a slightly lower, "corrected" level!