News/Stats/Studies

As the nation climbs into a post-recession environment, those in the world of nonprofit say they’re just starting to feel the brunt of the downturn. St. vincent de Paul's Terry McDonald said local nonprofits have struggled particularly hard in the past six months. He said state and county budget cuts are hitting and will continue to hit nonprofits hard.

Cuts at the state and county level are not the end of the problem for many nonprofits – nonprofit organizers said federal cuts also are a concern.

Next time you're out raising money for your favorite charity, you would do best to first hit up your female friends — or perhaps the wives of your male ones. Women, it appears, are much better givers.

According to a recent study by the Women's Philanthropy Institute at the University of Indiana, women are as much as 40% more likely to donate than men. What's more, women at nearly every income level are better givers. Not only do they give more often; they also tend to donate more.

Online giving continues to lead the changing nature of fundraising with social and mobile channels now emerging as well. Thankfully there is useful information that is actionable for all nonprofits.

Sage North America announced the results of its recently conducted Sage Nonprofit Insights, Q1 2011, survey of U.S. nonprofit organizations. In general, organizations that fundraise are optimistic that 2011 will be a better year than 2010, with 90 percent saying they expect the amount of funds raised in 2011 to be equal to or higher than the amount raised in 2010.

In addition, organizations are planning to put more effort behind online fundraising during 2011. Forty-four percent of respondents said they expect the share of donation made online to increase this year.

Blackbaud announced the release of “Connecting Online Advocacy and Fundraising”, a white paper focused on optimizing advocacy appeals that lead to increased response rates and fundraising.

“The integration of advocacy and fundraising has proven successful with many organizations,” said Daigneault co-author Steve Daigneault of M+R Strategic Services. “In fact, advocates are seven-times more likely to give as compared to non-advocates.”

Houses of worship and other charities often aren't in competition for dollars but instead tend to reap donations from similar donors, a new study shows. Slightly more than 50 percent of people who financially supported congregations also gave to at least one charitable organization in the last year, according to a study conducted by Phoenix-based Grey Matter Research Consulting.

Researchers also found that the more Americans give to a house of worship, the more they donate to other groups. And the trend continues with the generosity of the donor.

Blackbaud announced the release of its 2010 Online Giving Report, which provides the most comprehensive review of online giving trends currently available in the nonprofit sector. The report found that online giving grew 35 percent in 2010 and accounted for 8 percent of all fundraising.

The 2010 Study of High Net-Worth Philanthropy provides fundraisers with insights on wealthy donors' behaviors and giving preferences.

Lobbyists appear to be significantly cutting back on the money they give to support the favored charities of Members of Congress, one of the long-standing ways firms have curried favor with powerful Members.

Lobbying firms and their clients disclosed spending less than $10.4 million on Congressional charity events, meetings and gifts in the last half of 2010, according to a disclosure reports filed at the end of January.

The nonprofit sector is starting to show a glimmer of growth in the face of the tough economy and growing demand for services, a new survey says.

Nonprofit executive directors of half of 102 organizations surveyed by the Bridgespan Group said their revenues had begun to creep back in the past year.

And 60 percent say they actively are recruiting newly available talent, compared to only 31 percent last year.