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Tale of Two Studies
Two studies on charitable fundraising were reported in the Chronicle of Philanthropy this month, worth a look. Slow vs. Growing. References of “nearly flat” vs. “steep ascent”. One report is about charitable giving in general and the other report is about online giving. Can you guess which goes with which? The Giving USA annual report is on charitable giving in general, and reports a modest 1% increase in 2006. The Chronicle released its report on online giving showing a 37% increase in online giving in 2006. The Giving USA report attributes the slack year to “tough times” for Americans economically. Increased fuel costs, escalating prices for other necessities and rising consumer debt are referenced as playing a role in suppressed giving. Disaster effects are pointed to as a skewing factor for the growth rate. Hurricane Katrina, the Asian Tsunami and other natural disasters produced an unprecedented outpouring of gifts in 2005. When Giving USA excluded disaster gifts from the analysis, it presented a more favorable (maybe truer) growth rate between 2005 and 2006. But even after “correcting” for disaster, some international relief groups still showed a decline in giving. The Chronicle’s reported 37% increase in online giving is noteworthy. Positively. The article gives perspective, however, reminding that online giving still remains less than 1% of overall giving for most nonprofits. A Director of Electronic Media is quoted in this report describing the sector’s current practice of online fundraising as an “awkward adolescence”. He suggests most nonprofits are still learning how to organize around, staff for, and systemize this growth medium into an ongoing program and with other programs. He’s got that right. And add to that, advancement opportunities of social networking, user-centric web publishing, mobile messaging, etc. These are promising tactics but can get a little overwhelming while many managers are still building infrastructure for an online fundraising program and practice-- most times with extremely limited resources. So, two good fundraising studies for the "trends" file. The offline fundraising strategist mustn't rest easy with the plausible reasons for the past slow year. And the online strategist mustn't rest easy either with the good news about online giving’s steady growth. What they should do if they haven't already, is get in touch, get to know each other's programs, collaborate, and all ships will rise with the success of combined-channel fundraising efforts. References: Chronicle of Philanthropy related article http://philanthropy.com/free/articles/v19/i18/18002701.htm The Title Slow Year in Giving was cited in “06/25/07 Daily [email] Update from The Chronicle of Philanthropy” The Survey of Online Fundraising is conducted by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, now in its eighth year. Chronicle of Philanthropy related article (1) Cumulative median growth. Source: 2006 donorCentrics™ Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis. June 2007 | |
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