News/Stats/Studies

Charity Navigator, perhaps the largest online source for evaluating nonprofit groups, recently embarked on an overhaul to offer a wider, more nuanced array of information to donors who are deciding which organizations they might help.

Its reinvention coincides with the growing need of nonprofits to provide more — and broader — information about themselves and their impact in an effort to wean donors off a reliance on administrative-cost ratios and other financial metrics that have traditionally been used to assess charities.

U.S. nonprofit organizations are seeing a slight increase in donations — a sign they hope is the beginning of economic recovery — but the turnaround hasn’t been strong enough to keep up with higher demand for charitable services, a national report released Monday said. About a third of America’s charities reported an increase in donations during the first nine months of 2010, and they said they expect more good news in the fourth quarter, according to data collected by a coalition called the Nonprofit Research Collaborative.

If 2010 seemed like a bad year for your favorite charity, just wait for 2011.

Already struggling this year, cash-strapped nonprofits face the prospect of continued high demand with even more cuts next year, especially for those organizations heavily reliant on state and local government funding. And those signs of a slow recovery for the rest of the economy probably won't come in time to buoy the charitable sector in 2011.

Despite early projections of a robust holiday season for U.S. retailers, according to a new U.S.- Canada study, more Americans, almost 7 out of 10 (69 percent), say they’ll spend less on holiday presents this year as a result of the current economic climate.

Americans are more likely than their Canadian counterparts to say that, as a result of the economic climate, they will spend less money on holiday gifts (69% vs. 61%) and are now more likely to give charitable gifts as holiday presents (51% vs. 42%).

Foundation giving is expected to tick up modestly in 2011, but it may take several years before grants match pre-recession levels, according to a survey by the Foundation Center, in New York. The survey of more than 700 grant makers found that a slightly higher share planned to give more next year than in 2009 (21 percent) than planned to give less (15 percent). Fifty-nine percent predicted that their giving would be flat. (The remaining 6 percent of respondents were uncertain.)

Wealthy Americans are making smaller gifts to charity, with more than half of them making their largest gift to fund nonprofit operations, a new study says.

They also are volunteering more, and those who volunteer more are giving more, says the 2010 Bank of America Merrill Lynch Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy.

Overall average gift amounts from wealthy Americans fell 35 percent from 2007, after adjusting for inflation, although several sectors saw average gift amounts grow 4 percent to 21 percent.

The good news is that most Canadians worth $1 million or more feel it's important to give back to the community. The bad news is about one in four of these high-worth individuals do not.

Survey results released Monday — to coincide with National Philanthropy Day — by BMO Harris Private Banking show that 76 per cent of holders of at least $1 million in investable assets say it is important to them to give something back.

Entrepreneurs and the companies they lead are more inclined to give to charitable organizations, according to a recently released study by the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund.

The Fidelity^® Charitable Gift Fund ("Gift Fund") and Ernst & Young released Entrepreneurs & Philanthropy: Investing in the Future, a comprehensive study which examines how entrepreneurs apply their personal passion for giving to their corporate philanthropy.

The survey of nearly 150 CEOs and founders reveals that nine in 10 (89 percent) entrepreneurs donate money, both personally and through their companies, to support charitable causes, while 70 percent also donate their time.

Uncertainty over future tax rates and the end of a popular tax break for seniors could cause givers to postpone or reduce charitable contributions this year, putting pressure on charities already struggling with a decline in donations.

The fourth quarter is traditionally the time of year when many large charities receive the majority of their annual contributions. Donors who make their contributions by Dec. 31 can claim the deduction when they file their tax return for the year. But political gridlock has turned that strategy upside down, charitable experts say.