News/Stats/Studies

A rush of donations over the holiday period has helped the Wikimedia Foundation hit its fundraising target for the year. The organization has hit its $16 million target to fully fund the online encyclopaedia and other projects for the next twelve months.

This year I wanted to 1) motivate nonprofit communicators to reflect so they'll increase the impact of their work this year and 2) share the core lessons learned with their peers. Thus the "most valuable marketing lessons learned in 2010" survey was born.

At the Direct Marketing Fundraisers Association Year-End Luncheon, veteran fundraising expert Roger Craver, founder of DonorTrends and editor of The Agitator, shared five fundraising trends to get on top of in 2011.

Many nonprofit agencies see a spike in donations at the end of the year, said Dawn Littlefield, executive director of the Kishwaukee United Way, which supports more than two dozen DeKalb County nonprofits.

December is typically a busy month at the DeKalb County Community Foundation as well, executive director Dan Templin said. Many donors wait until the end of the year to take stock of their tax situation, he said, or to catch up on the amount they had budgeted for charity for the year.

Continued high unemployment and decreases in charitable donations have taken a toll on nonprofits over the past few years, said John Baker, managing director of the Delaware Association of Nonprofit Agencies.

Many nonprofits have responded by collaborating on projects, sharing resources and finding new sources of donations, he said.

The proportion of people who think charities work professionally has increased by more than a sixth over the past three years, according to a survey.

The poll by the consultancy nfpSynergy shows that the proportion of people who agree that "charities strive to achieve the highest professional standards at all times" rose from 47 percent in 2007 to 55 percent in 2010.

The consultancy regularly surveys a representative sample of 1,000 people aged 16 and over in Britain about their perceptions of charities for its Charity Awareness Monitor.

Virtually all of the nation’s nonprofit organizations consider information technology important or critical to their operations, a new study shows, but sizable numbers still rely on outdated equipment and need more computers. The survey, conducted by the Johns Hopkins Nonprofit Listening Post Project, found that nearly all of the 443 organizations that responded said that information technology was “moderately important” or “critical” to carrying out their business activities, including accounting, finance, fund raising, and delivering services.

AFP CEO Paulette Maehara shares her thoughts on Convio's positive 2010 Holiday Giving Survey findings.

For many charities this holiday season, sharp increases in fund raising are an unexpected holiday gift, a new Chronicle poll finds.

Fifty-three percent of the 181 organizations that reported on the state of their November and December appeals told The Chronicle that they were raising more than they had during the same time a year ago. One in five said their donations had jumped by 20 percent or more.

Gift cards long have been heralded as the savior of last-minute shoppers during the holiday season. Now, they also are coming to the rescue of the procrastinating philanthropist.

The newest version of the gift card allows recipients to donate the money on the card to a nonprofit of their choice. These so-called charitable gift cards are issued by nonprofit organizations such as GlobalGiving and TisBest that vet the charities to ensure they are legitimate. The groups estimate that they have raised millions of dollars for causes.