Social-Service and International Groups Were Winners in 2001, Report Says

“Giving USA,” an annual survey of the state of philanthropy published by the American Association of

Fundraising Counsel Trust for Philanthropy, tracks donations to different categories of charities. Following is a look at how groups fared last year.

Arts. Giving to cultural and humanities groups, including public broadcasting stations, rose for the third year in a row, by 2.7 percent, to $12.1-billion.

Giving to those groups has increased in each recession year from 1971 to 2000, according to the study. A rise in gifts from corporations and individuals, especially to small and medium-size groups, helped account for the rise in donations in 2001, according to “Giving USA.”

At the Los Angeles Opera, fund raisers expect contributions to reach $18-million by June 30, the end of its fiscal year, an increase of $7-million over last year. In response to the arrival of the opera´s new artistic director, the superstar tenor Plácido Domingo, members of the opera´s board of trustees gave 13 gifts of more than $1-million each, to be paid out over three years, says Suzanne M. Torgeson, director of development. “People have great respect for Mr. Domingo,” she says. His appointment signaled that “we were moving the opera company from one level to another, and in order to do that, we need to find some funding.”

Chicago Children´s Museum ended the year with a small surplus of $10,000, says Peter England, the group´s president. Two foundation grants of $100,000 helped, as did a $400,000 grant from Allstate Foundation to help pay for a new exhibit.

Education. For the second year in a row, giving to colleges and universities, libraries, elementary and secondary education, and tutoring programs declined. Giving sank 2.3 percent, to $31.8-billion, following a decline in 2000 of 0.7 percent. That is a stark contrast to just two years earlier: In 1998, giving to education increased 13.3 percent, a 30-year high.

The “Giving USA” estimate of giving for education is at odds with the 4.3-percent increase in giving to colleges, universities, and private schools reported earlier this year by the Council for Aid to Education. However, those results were from the fiscal year ending June 2001, and so did not reflect the impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks or the shaky stock market last fall.

Even so, many colleges and universities reported that giving was holding steady or increasing. Officials at Hollins University, in Roanoke, Va., expect a jump in fund raising of 10 to 12 percent when its fiscal year closes at the end of the month, despite the attacks and the fact that the institution was run by an interim president last year, says Cynthia Woolbright, vice president for alumni relations and development. She attributes the rise to the university´s effort to promote its accomplishments — increased enrollment and the appointment of a new president — to major donors by stepping up the number of times they receive visits from university officials and by sending extra mailings. “With everything that has happened this year, people really do want to hear good news, and we have been able to share that,” she says.

At Emory University, in Atlanta, fund raisers were “psychologically prepared” for a downturn in giving following the terrorist attacks, says Jane DiFolco Parker, executive director of institutional advancement services, but “it has not been borne out in fact.” Several large gifts will propel fund-raising totals about $150,000 ahead of last year, she says.

At Ouachita Baptist University, in Arkadelphia, Ark., fund raising went into a “tailspin” after September 11 and didn´t fully recover until this winter, says fund raiser Lane M. Smith. Still, the university expects to raise $10.5-million when the fiscal year ends in June, up $1-million from last year, mainly because of a successful February telephone appeal, and an influx of bequests and grants.

As of November, giving to the annual fund had declined $300,000 at Ohio Wesleyan University, in Delaware, Ohio. However, officials expect the annual fund to come in $200,000 ahead of last year when the fiscal year ends in June. Fund raisers made up ground partly by changing the tone of later annual appeals from competitive to collegial.

Nonetheless, Ouachita and Ohio Wesleyan are still concerned. They worry that while total donations have risen, the percentage of donors who contribute to their annual funds has been dropping. Since participation in the annual fund is a sign of “health in your fund-raising program,” says Alissa Comella, director of annual giving at Ohio Wesleyan, she plans to work hard to get the numbers back up next year, even if people can´t make gifts as large as they have in the past.

Environment. Gifts to environmental and wildlife organizations rose for the fifth year in a row, by 1.1 percent, to $6.4-billion.

The election of George W. Bush as president helped stimulate giving to many groups, said “Giving USA,” because donors were unhappy with some administration policies, including the decision to pull out of a treaty that was supposed to help reduce global warming. In addition, some charities received big donations, such as the $261-million the co-founder of Intel, Gordon Moore, gave to Conservation International, in Washington.

Membership in the Sierra Club, in San Francisco, reached over 700,000 in December, an all-time high for the charity, says Deborah Sorondo, chief operating and development officer. She attributes the rise to donors´ disapproval of the Bush administration´s environmental policies. Even the president´s surge in popularity following September 11 has not made a difference, says Ms. Sorondo. “We have not seen any long-term drop in our attractiveness as an organization or cause,” she says. “The environment is the area where the American people and the Bush administration are most at odds, and that benefits us in a way that might not necessarily apply to other organizations.”

Health. After 11 years of gains, contributions to hospitals and other health charities fell this year by 4.8 percent, to $18.4-billion.

One reason giving is down, says “Giving USA,” is that despite announcements of several large gifts, including a $1.1-billion stock donation to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, in Kansas City, Mo., these commitments are not all being paid out in one year. In addition, while large groups reported increases, the more numerous small and medium-size groups reported the opposite.

Contributions to the Meridian Health System Affiliated Foundations, in Wall, N.J., dropped $800,000 in 2001, to $5.3-million, from the year before, says Paulette Roberts, the executive director. The group, which raises money for three hospitals in central New Jersey, lost ground because of the terrorist attacks and a sluggish stock market. “Our efforts came to a standstill in the last quarter of the year,” she says. “There were several gifts we might have closed if the disaster hadn´t taken place.”

However, not all groups fared as badly. The American Diabetes Association, in Alexandria, Va., expects an 8-percent increase in donations, to $190-million, when its fiscal year ends June 30. Vaneeda Bennett, the national vice president for income development, traces the rise to a recent emphasis on major-gift fund raising and additional donations from corporations. “Diabetes is becoming more mainstream,” she says. The charity appeals to “corporations that are interested in lifestyle issues and healthy living.”

Human services. Charities that provide human services, such as food banks and homeless shelters, saw giving shoot up 11.9 percent, to $20.7-billion. Giving to these groups has increased for the last six years, most notably by 25 percent in 1998.

A possible reason, says “Giving USA,” was the attention social services got from the local press for helping people deal with tough times and their work after the terrorist attacks. In addition, the White House created an office to focus on helping community-based groups, putting social-services groups in the spotlight.

The Oregon Food Bank, in Portland, anticipates meeting its goal of $5-million, $500,000 more than the previous year, when its fiscal year ends June 30, says Lisa K. Wiebe, director of development. However, the charity had some help. After the attacks, donations plummeted $100,000 below anticipated levels. Articles and editorials in the local newspapers about the charity´s work helped spur contributions, including one $25,000 gift from an anonymous donor. “Once we got the case out there” to the public, she says, “there was a heightened awareness of the need to feed people in Oregon.”

However, not all human-services groups experienced increases. The Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter, in Waterville, saw donations decline about $20,000 from the previous year. “A lot of jobs have left the area recently and have been replaced by part-time service jobs where people don´t have the discretionary income to donate to local charities,” says Susan E. Goss, the executive director.

International. Charities that provide services overseas saw an increase of 9.9 percent, to $4.1-billion, following a decline of 0.8 percent in 2000.

International crises in 2001, including earthquakes in El Salvador and India, as well as the terrorist attacks, fueled giving to these groups.

At the International Rescue Committee, in New York, fund raising from January to September last year was “tough,” says Janet M. Harris, the vice president of development. “We felt a shrinkage in the economy and had to work hard for every dollar.” But after the attacks, the charity received an anonymous gift of $1-million for its work in Afghanistan, and $1-million from a special appeal it sent to donors in early October. As a result, the group is $2-million above its goal this year for restricted gifts. “Unfortunately for us on the fund-raising side,” she says, “world tragedy is a spur to giving.”

Religion. Churches, synagogues, and other religious institutions saw giving rise 1.6 percent, to $81-billion, nearly double the rise of giving in 2000.

While the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in Kansas City, Mo., did see a drop in donations following the attacks, a thank-you letter helped the group end up raising $38.4-million, 1 percent more than the year before, says Ralph W. Stewart, who oversees the group´s fund raising. In November, the group sent a letter to its 60,000 current and former donors, thanking them for past support. The letter did not ask for a gift outright, but a donation envelope was included. It raised 27 percent more than the appeal the year before, and prompted a $5,000 gift from a donor who had not given in a while and a handful of gifts of $1,000 from other lapsed donors. Its success revealed that “we don´t do a good enough job of appreciating people on a regular basis,” says Mr. Stewart. Now the group´s president regularly calls major donors to thank them without making a direct request for support, and fund raising this year is running 2.4 percent ahead of where it was last year.

United Ways and public-interest groups. Giving to United Ways, Jewish federations, consumer-protection groups, and other charities in this broad category declined by 0.8 percent, to $11.8-billion. The loss came after groups in this category posted the largest gain, in 2000, of 2.4 percent.

Several United Ways struggled with meeting fund-raising goals for annual campaigns. At the United Way Silicon Valley, in San Jose, Calif., donations to its annual campaign came up $4-million short of its $18-million goal. As a result, the group is planning to cut payments to the 101 charities it supports by 40 percent in the coming year. United Way leaders said they thought the main reason for the decline was that so many employees in the region had been laid off or chose to leave their jobs, making the pool of potential donors leaner than in past years. In addition, they noted that local residents gave $2.5-million through the United Way to charities dealing with September 11 issues, which left less money for charities in the region.

However, the United Way of Central Alabama saw fund raising for its annual campaign increase by 6 percent. Gerry Taylor, who oversees fund raising, thinks it´s because the Birmingham economy, which does not depend on tourism, was not as hard hit by the recession as some others were; in fact employees at a local bank, AmSouth, increased their donations by $300,000.