Behind the Numbers: How Different Types of Charities Fared Last Year
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
June 28, 2007 | Read Time: 7 minutes
Giving rose by 1 percent last year after adjusing for inflation, according to Giving USA, the annual tally
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ALSO SEE: ARTICLE: A Record High |
of charitable donations.
The report also included inflation-adjusted average increases in total giving and in giving to different types of charities from 1997 through 2006. It found that total giving rose by an average of 5.4 percent annually over the last decade.
Following is a summary of how contributions rose and fell among different types of charities last year and how they have fared since 1997.
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How much raised last year: $12.5-billion |
Behind the numbers: While giving rose for many large organizations, it was slow at other groups that depend mainly on donors who make small gifts.
Annual gifts of $5,000 or more to the National Trust for Historic Preservation grew by 17 percent last year to $12.5-million for projects to rehabilitate historic buildings after Hurricane Katrina, but contributions from members who give $20 annually were stagnant, says David R. Cooper, vice president for resources development. Those donors, he says, may have instead decided to support political candidates in last year’s Congressional elections.
“We find our membership very responsive to external events — tsunamis, political campaigns, all those types of things distract our donors,” says Mr. Cooper. “They come back, but it is harder to get significant gifts from them in periods of other news.”
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How much raised last year: $41-billion |
Behind the numbers: Education giving has been growing fast for several decades, says John Lippincott, president of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, in Washington. In recent years, growth has been sparked by the proliferation of multibillion-dollar capital campaigns.
But Mr. Lippincott warns that the increased ambition of colleges, universities, and private schools is creating a significant shortage of experienced fund raisers that could spell trouble for some institutions. “As you grow your operation, you can’t simply wait for the money to come in over the transom,” he says. “You have to have people to do that asking.”
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a scientific-research and educational institution in New York, has seen a big upswing in gifts since it began its capital campaign in 2005, says Charles Prizzi, chief development officer.
The organization raised $60-million last year, roughly triple the amount it had been bringing in before the campaign started. Decreasing government support has been offset by the increased interest of donors in paying for genetic research on specific diseases such as autism, he says.
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UNITED WAYS AND OTHER COMMUNITY CAUSES How much raised last year: $21.4-billion |
Behind the numbers: United Ways, Jewish federations, and other organizations that raise money to meet societal needs expanded their traditional fund-raising methods and tried new approaches, such as mounting capital campaigns and seeking foundation grants and corporate sponsorships.
Still, many local United Ways and Jewish federations struggled last year to overcome the effects of poor local economies and related issues such as high unemployment. Others, even those that raised more money in 2006, have seen the number of their donors dwindle in recent years.
Last year’s Israel Emergency Campaign held by Jewish federations cut into several federations’ traditional annual drives for unrestricted gifts. At the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, in Connecticut, the most-recent annual campaign raised $6.5-million, or $200,000 less than the previous one. Fund raisers say the Israel campaign and another special drive to assist Ethiopian Jews were partially to blame.
“There was a little donor and staff fatigue,” says Cathrine Fischer Schwartz, the federation’s executive director. “We are seeing a slowdown.”
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How much raised last year: $96.8-billion |
Behind the numbers: Religious charities have long captured the biggest share of all contributions, but their piece of the pie is shrinking: It is now less than a third, down from 45.7 percent in 1966, Giving USA found.
Several churches reported a decline in giving last year: At St. Mary Church and School, in Derby, Kan., for example, contributions declined by 5.8 percent, to $2.1-million.
But many other organizations, including large evangelical congregations and other religious groups, did well.
The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, which represents more than 1,200 organizations, said cash contributions to its members increased in 2006 to $8.6-billion, a rise of nearly 23 percent. Even the smallest groups with annual revenue of less than $3-million achieved a total increase in cash gifts of 13 percent.
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How much raised last year: $29.6-billion |
Behind the numbers: The decline was largely due to the huge influx of giving to such organizations in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters. When disaster gifts are deducted, contributions were flat, rising by 0.1 percent last year.
Many groups increased donations last year, even though the overall trend was sluggish. The Salvation Army’s year-end Red Kettle drive outpaced inflation, growing by 5.4 percent, to $117-million last year. And more than half of 89 social-service groups, surveyed by Giving USA to corroborate its projections, reported an increase in contributions.
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How much raised last year: $20.2-billion |
Behind the numbers: Despite last year’s dip, many health groups did well in 2006.
According to preliminary results from a national survey released by the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy, nonprofit hospitals and medical centers raised $7.9-billion last year, an increase of 11.5 percent.
Gifts to other types of health charities also outpaced inflation last year: At the American Diabetes Association, for example, contributions increased by 10.4 percent, while the National Multiple Sclerosis Society raised $220-million, a 5.9-percent increase.
Some hospital fund raisers report a substantial increase in the number of civic groups, clubs, and other outside groups who are willing to organize and run fund-raising events that benefit their institutions. This year, for example, the Rady Children’s Hospital, in San Diego, expects to raise some 20 percent of its total contributions, $4-million to $5-million, from about 350 “third-party events,” as they are often called.
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How much raised last year: $6.6-billion |
Behind the numbers: Last year’s decline comes after a big increase in gifts in 2005, when donations grew by 14 percent. The 2005 donations were so strong due in part to concern about global warming and predictions that storms as severe as Hurricane Katrina would become more common, fund raisers say.
Environmental activists say they expect giving in 2007 to be good, as concerns about climate change continue to dominate the news.
“People are really getting that there’s a big problem,” says Kalman Stein, chief executive officer of Earth Share, a Bethesda, Md., organization that raises money for more than 400 national and local environmental groups. It’s not just hurricanes and movies, it’s lead stories in magazines, the polar bears, a steady drumbeat. It’s an issue that’s going to be as big a focus years from now.”
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How much raised last year: $11.3-billion |
Behind the numbers: Fund raisers attribute last year’s decrease to an absence of major disasters like those of 2005, when donors gave to aid victims of the Asian tsunamis. When disaster gifts are excluded, international donations fell by 3.3 percent. However, over the past decade international charities have fared well, with a double-digit average annual increase, in part because of other catastrophes.
In 2006, “we hit our goal and were very pleased, because it was just a small decline,” says Alyssa Herman, director of development for Doctors Without Borders, where private donations declined by 3.3 percent, to $116-million.
Doctors Without Borders projects a 17-percent increase in giving this year, to $138-million, because large gifts and grants have been higher than usual. Another reason, Ms. Herman says, is that some 20 percent of donors who first gave after the tsunamis have continued to make gifts, because fund raisers have worked hard to engage them in other ways, such as including them in conference calls with staff members.
