Giving USA Foundation

In a research first, the Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC) finds a direct association between active fundraising by nonprofit board members and the organization meeting its fundraising goals.

Donations to charity plummeted to $7.86 billion in 2011, a decline of 17.7 percent year-on-year, according to an annual report released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Thursday. The report mainly reflected donations in terms of money and materials to non-governmental organizations and civil affairs departments. The report did not clarify the percentage of donations from the public and corporations.

Ted Hart speaks with Gregg Carlson, vice chair of the Giving USA Foundation, in the first national look at the Giving USA 2012 annual report.

Seven in 10 nonprofits expect their donations to increase this year, after 2011 became the first year since the recession started that a majority of nonprofits reported a rise in the amount they raised.

Still, the recovery is uneven, according a report of 1,600 nonprofit. Thirty-one percent, mostly small organizations, said contributions dropped in 2011, and 41 percent said they did not meet their fundraising goals.

The study was conducted by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative, a coalition of nonprofits and fundraisers that report on the state of giving twice a year.

Despite these tough economic times, Americans still support organizations and causes that matter to them. Nonprofits that remain focused while adeptly fine-tuning strategy can emerge stronger and more effective. Now is the time to strategically plan for the future, firm up board support, refine communications and evaluate current philanthropic models.

Despite these tough economic times, Americans still support organizations and causes that matter to them. Nonprofits that remain focused while adeptly fine-tuning strategy can emerge stronger and more effective. Now is the time to strategically plan for the future, firm up board support, refine communications and evaluate current philanthropic models.

Americans gave about $290 billion to charity last year. That was $10 billion more than the amount of charitable giving in 2009. The estimates are from the Giving USA Foundation and its research partner, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

The largest share of charitable giving goes to religious groups. Giving USA says the received 35 percent of all donations in 2010. Schools and other education-related organizations were second on the list. They received an estimated 14 percent of all charitable giving last year.

The nonprofit sector is big, getting bigger, and dominated by big organizations and the health and education fields, and it has been whipsawed by big swings in charitable giving over the past decade, a new report says.

The U.S. was home to more than 1.4 million nonprofits in 2010, up 19 percent from 1999, a total that included more than 1 million public charities, says the Nonprofit Sector in Brief, a highlight of trends from The Nonprofit Almanac 2011, which was prepared by the National Center for Charitable Statistics at the Urban Institute.

Tithing to mainline Protestant churches as a percentage of income is at its lowest level in at least 41 years, according to a new report, and churches are keeping a greater share of those donations for their own needs.

Parishioners gave about 2.38 percent of their income to their church, according to “The State of Church Giving through 2009,” a new report released by Empty Tomb Inc., a Christian research agency in Champaign, Ill.

As the fourth quarter of 2011 begins, fewer than half of surveyed nonprofits reported fundraising increases during the first half of 2011 compared with the same period in 2010.

According to a report released by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC), of 813 responding nonprofits surveyed in July:

• 44 percent reported increases in charitable contributions received through June, compared with the same period in 2010;
• 25 percent reported giving remained level; and
• 30 percent reported charitable contributions have declined so far this year.
• 1 percent did not know.