January 1, 2012
Nearly half of nonprofit organizations saw an increase in contributions in the first six months of 2011, while a quarter said giving was the same as in 2010, according The Nonprofit Research Collaborative’s 2011 survey of 813 charitable groups.
About 30 percent saw a decline in donations during the first six months of the year.
To compare, in years of high giving, such as 2007, 65 percent of groups enjoyed an increase in giving and fewer than 25 percent had a decline. The 2011 result of 44 percent having an increase was similar to 2010 figures.
Larger charities were more likely to see an increase in 2011, with 57 percent of nonprofits with budgets over $3 million reporting increases. In fact, the smaller the charity, the smaller the number of groups that had donation increases. Only 34 percent of organizations with less than $250,000 budgets saw donations go up in the first half of 2011.
Human services organizations were also more likely to see more contributions – 50 percent reported an increase in contributions. More than 40 percent of cultural, educational, health and environmental groups also had increases. Other types of organization didn’t fare as well. For instance, just 20 percent of international organizations reported an increase in contributions over 2010.
This article was originally posted on January 1, 2012 and the information may no longer be current. For questions, please contact GRF CPAs & Advisors at marketing@grfcpa.com.