September 16, 2004 | Read Time: 1 minute
Fund raisers believe improvements in the economy and other factors that influence giving are making it far easier to raise money now than it was a year ago, according to a national survey of 177 fund raisers and 26 fund-raising consultants.
The “Philanthropic Giving Index,” as the survey is known, is conducted twice annually by the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy. The center said that, on a scale of 1 to 100, fund raisers gave an overall grade of 90.6 to the fund-raising climate. The state of fund raising today received a score of 87.4 and the ability to raise money over the next six months got 93.8.
In all of those cases, the perceptions rose faster in a single year than the center has seen since it started conducting the survey in 1998.
A year ago fund raisers’ perceptions hit bottom. Another low point was in December 2001, following the September 11 terrorist attacks, but now the assessments are equal to or above what they were before the attacks.
Fund raisers also were asked to rank the success of nine solicitation techniques, such as direct mail and planned giving. Fund raisers said solicitations for big gifts and direct-mail appeals were the best approaches now in use, and Web and e-mail appeals the worst.
The survey results are available at http://www.philanthropy.iupui.edu/PGI-Summer2004.pdf. Free print copies are available from Kathryn Steinberg, assistant director of research, Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, at (317) 278-8957; ksteinbe@iupui.edu.
