News/Stats/Studies

Google this week released its annual Zeitgeist report, which tallies the 10 most popular and fastest-rising searches in a wide range of categories. To come up with the fastest-rising terms, it compared searches this year to those in 2010.

“Donate to Japan,” “Red Cross Japan,” and “Japan relief” were the three fastest-rising charitable searches in the United States this year.

The Blackbaud Index of Charitable Giving, a broad-based fundraising index that reports overall giving trends of 1,264 U.S.-based nonprofit organizations representing $2.56 billion in yearly giving on a monthly basis, reported that charitable giving rose 2.2% for the three months ending October 2011 as compared to the same period in 2010. The Blackbaud Index of Online Giving, comprised of actual revenue data from 1748 nonprofits representing $424 million in yearly online giving, reported that online giving rose 10.6% for the three months ending October 2011 as compared to the same period in 2010.

People are more inspired to give when they see others contributing their time and money to a good cause outside their homeland, according to a new psychology study from The University of Texas at Austin.

In a series of experiments, researchers examined how physical and social distance affects people's willingness to participate in philanthropy. Respondents were more motivated to give to a cause when they learned of others assisting people in need outside of their homeland.

What’s the biggest marketing lesson you learned (or re-learned) in 2011? Please take two minutes to share your lesson with Nancy Schwartz, president of fundraising consulting firm Nancy Schwartz & Co. and author of the Getting Attention! blog — the survey closes Dec. 23.
Schwartz will summarize the trends, and share the lessons submitted by you and your peers in the field, in the 2012 Guide to Nonprofit Marketing Wisdom. You’ll get a free copy when you share your biggest marketing lesson learned!

Contributions declined at more than half of Catholic parishes from 2008 through 2010, according to a new study. Roughly 20 percent of parishes said giving remained flat during that time, while 13 percent reported that contributions decreased at first and then rebounded. About 10 percent of parishes said donations rose.

The Center for the Study of Church Management at Villanova University analyzed the data 390 Catholic parishes provided as part of the Faith Communities Today survey, which was conducted by the Cooperative Congregational Studies Partnership.

Developed countries and funding agencies are putting the brakes on growth in development assistance for health, raising the possibility that developing countries will have an even harder time meeting the Millennium Development Goal deadline looming in 2015, according to new research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

Older Americans give to charities and other important causes more generously than most other Americans, according to a survey released by Chase Card Services, a division of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Over the past decade, U.S. foundation support for programs benefiting Hispanics and Latinos has held steady at approximately 1 percent of overall foundation funding, even as the Hispanic population in the country has grown significantly, a new report from the Foundation Center finds.

According to Foundation Funding for Hispanics/Latinos in the United States and for Latin America, total grant funding targeting Latinos in the U.S. between 2007 and 2009 averaged about $206 million a year, while funding for Latin America averaged roughly $350 million annually.

The National FFA Foundation announced it raised a record $16 million through corporate and private financial contributions to support FFA in 2011.

The foundation welcomed 40 new corporate sponsors in 2011, raising the total number to 1,212. Three new corporations combined for a $3 million gift to FFA. The foundation also drew more than 80 new companies and organizations as exhibitors at the 2011 National FFA Convention & Expo, the nation’s largest gathering of students. More than 53,350 FFA members, teachers and school administrators attended the 2011 event.

Chapman Cubine Adams + Hussey (CCAH), a full-service direct marketing firm serving global nonprofit organizations, announced that the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) has chosen the company as its direct marketing agency of record. CCAH will be responsible for developing and implementing NWF’s multichannel fundraising initiatives to help increase the organization’s revenue, expand monthly giving and improve donor retention.