Majority of Donors Say Economic Woes Won’t Affect Their Giving
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
March 26, 2009 | Read Time: 5 minutes
Their investment portfolios may be slumping and their jobs less secure, but a majority of Americans who give to charity still plan to donate as much this year as they have in the past, according to a new survey.
More than 52 percent of donors said their gifts would be at least as large as in 2008, while just 17.5 percent planned to give less.
But many Americans are still undecided about their plans for giving this year: Thirty percent of respondents said it was too soon for them to know how much they would give.
That leaves a great deal of room for the economic climate, as well as the effectiveness of fund raisers, to shape donors’ giving patterns this year.
“Donors are still vibrantly connected to their philanthropy and to the nonprofit sector, and they want to do everything they can to keep giving in tough times,” said Penelope Burk, president of Cygnus Applied Research, the company that conducted the study. “We can do ourselves a favor by not making it easy for donors to drop our cause, by having an excellent cause that resonates in a recession, and by not doing things that turn donors off.”
Conducted in January, the survey polled 22,000 people who had given in the past to charity. The respondents donated a median of $2,000 last year, meaning that about half of the donors gave more and half gave less.
Recession’s Impact
Most people in the survey said they had been touched in some way by the recession. More than 40 percent had lost their jobs or taken a hit in their income, while nearly 60 percent had seen their investments decrease in value.
On the whole, they were relatively pessimistic about the economy’s outlook. The largest share of respondents (39 percent) said they thought it would be at least three years before the economy recovered, while 23.4 percent felt the economy would rebound in less than two years.
But donors said they were prepared to make sacrifices to sustain their philanthropy. Of those who planned to give at least as much in 2009, 50 percent said they were willing to make compromises in other areas of their lives to do so.
Most people said the recession would not affect their previous charitable commitments. Of those who were committed to a multiyear gift, 87 percent said they would pay the donations on time. That compares to about 95 percent in good times.
Meanwhile, donors who were forced to make cuts preferred to give less, rather than halting their support altogether.
While a recession may not seem like the ideal time to seek out new donors, many people in the survey (42.5 percent) said they would give to a charity they had not supported in the past if someone they knew was seeking the gift.
Many donors (40.3 percent) said they were also willing to give for the first time if the charity was working directly to help people hurt by the recession.
That tells charities that volunteers can play a key role in recruiting donors, said Ms. Burk. “If someone is willing to give their time freely, that means a great deal to donors,” she said. “It makes them feel confident that they’re backing the right horse, so to speak.”
Solicitation Turnoffs
Ms. Burk also said that donors’ interest in helping people hurt by the recession should encourage many types of charities, not just social-service groups, to emphasize the positive role they’re playing in tough times. For instance, she said, environmental groups might discuss with donors how they are helping to create new industries that could get the country out of recession.
Donors in the study said that, even before the recession, they were beginning to make some changes in how they gave.
For many, frequent solicitations were a big turnoff.
Forty percent said they had stopped donating to at least one nonprofit group in the past five years because they felt overwhelmed by appeal letters, while a third said they were concerned that organizations spent too much on fund raising.
Ms. Burk said that, particularly in the recession, charities ought to put more emphasis on communicating their message to existing donors, particularly wealthier ones, and less on mass mailings. Donors also said they were giving more to fewer causes (28.6 percent), being more thoughtful about their donations (29.4 percent), and donating more to local charities rather than national or umbrella organizations.
Copies of the study, “Philanthropy in a Turbulent Economy,” can be ordered for $50 from Cygnus Research’s Web site. The study can also be ordered by sending an e-mail message to cygnus@cygresearch.com, or calling Patricia Sinka at (800) 263-0267.
How Donors Are Responding to the Recession
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HOW MUCH THEY PLAN TO GIVE IN 2009
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HOW PEOPLE WHO MADE MULTIYEAR PLEDGES PLAN TO ALTER TERMS OF GIFTS
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WHY DONORS PLAN TO GIVE AS MUCH OR MORE THAN THEY DID IN 2008
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WHAT WOULD PROMPT DONORS TO GIVE TO A CAUSE THEY NEVER PREVIOUSLY SUPPORTED
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WHY DONORS WILL GIVE LESS IN 2009
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APPROACHES DONORS PLAN TO TAKE AS THEY REDUCE THEIR GIVING
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