Christian Donors Say That Year-2000 Computer Problems Won’t Affect Giving

Some fund raisers worry that year-end gifts might decrease because of donors’ fears about the computer millennium bug,

but a new survey suggests that giving will remain steady, at least among people who give to religious charities.

Seventy-one per cent of respondents to a poll of donors to Christian organizations said that they planned to give the same amount as they did last year. Only 4 per cent said they plan to give less because of concerns about computer-related problems. Another 12 per cent said they would give more this year; 9 per cent were unsure.

The new survey was based on responses from 1,000 people who had made at least two gifts of $25 or more to an evangelical Christian charity in the past two years.

The survey was commissioned by the Domain Group, a Seattle direct-marketing firm that specializes in working with religious groups.

While the donors tended not to be very worried about what could happen to them personally or to their donations as a result of computer malfunctions, officials at the Domain Group said that people who make large gifts of stock might have a different attitude toward year-end giving.

Donors who give stock — or those who make planned gifts, which charities invest in the stock market to generate income for the donor in exchange for the principal — might hold off on year-end donations, particularly if they fear computer problems could cause or exacerbate a downturn in the market.

While many fund raisers say it’s too early to tell what effect, if any, computer problems will have on the market, some charities are already urging donors who plan to give stock this year to do so by November or earlier.

West Virginia University Foundation, the fund-raising arm of the Morgantown institution, has included that message in a newsletter on planned giving that it sends to more than 10,000 people, and fund raisers are considering publishing similar messages in the university’s alumni magazine.

For most charities, the final months of the year are the time when they get the most donations — because of the holiday season and the end of the tax year. If donors get frightened by computer-related problems, many charities could face serious financial problems.

The so-called Y2K problem, or “millennium bug,” arises because many of the computer hardware and software programs still in use today identify years by the last two digits, and those older systems may malfunction when faced with the year 2000, which they tend to confuse with 1900.

Domain Group researchers said the donors in their survey held views on the Y2K problem that were consistent with the attitudes of the general public.

For example, 17 per cent of the donors said that Y2K computer errors will cause major problems, while 21 per cent of American adults said the same thing in a Gallup poll conducted earlier this year.

Sixty-nine per cent of the donors in the new survey said that Y2K glitches will cause only minor problems, while 65 per cent of all Americans said so.

“Given the press in some Christian publications about Y2K being a huge and scary event, we were encouraged to see that Christians were not that different from the general public, and they don’t seem to be engaging in any doomsday scenarios,” said Bill Jacobs, a strategic analyst at the Domain Group.

Donors seemed somewhat less optimistic about how Y2K problems would affect giving by people other than themselves: While 45 per cent of them said that it was “not at all likely” that Americans’ donations will drop, 37 per cent said it was “somewhat likely,” and another 13 per cent said it was “very likely.”

And, while 53 per cent of the donors said that they were confident that charities will have fixed their computer systems in time to avoid Y2K problems, 43 per cent said it was likely that such problems would put “strain on charities.” Another 26 per cent said it is likely that social-service organizations would face problems because of Y2K issues.

Forty per cent of the donors said that they would volunteer at a local charity if and when computer-related problems occur.

Mr. Jacobs says that his organization is using the survey findings to help clients avoid any decrease in year-end giving.

He said his organization is recommending that charities:

* Reassure donors in newsletters and other communications that their computer systems have been adjusted to deal with potential Y2K problems.

* Keep up efforts to recruit new donors through the end of the year to offset any loss of donations over the next few months.

* Be prepared with special mailings or other communications to reassure donors in January about the charity’s viability in case organizations have seen a year-end drop in donations.

The Domain Group expects to publish a report on the survey results this week.

For a free copy, check the organization’s Web site (http://www.thedomaingroup.com/press) or contact Justin Sewall, Marketing Coordinator, Domain Group, 720 Olive Way, Suite 1700, Seattle 98101; (206) 682-3035, ext. 1538; e-mail: jsewall@thedomaingroup.com.