US Fundraising -Optimistic or Not?
25 September 2006 at 1:09 pm
Have you ever tried to quantify your ‘optimism’ in terms of future fundraising – not just your expected budget for the next twelve months? A study in the US does just that!
The 2006 Philanthropic Giving Index survey has found that fundraisers expressed a more optimistic opinion about the climate of fundraising than they had in the previous year!
The survey released in August by the Centre on Philanthropy at Indiana University, says optimism increased 4.3 percent over last summer.
The index, which the centre compares to the US consumer price index, measures the giving environment by gauging fundraising professionals’ current and future levels of ‘optimism’.
The study produces three indexes. The Philanthropic Giving Index is the overall assessment of the fundraising climate in the United States. The Present Situation Index reflects professional fundraisers’ view of the current fundraising climate, and the Expectations Index indicates how the panel of fundraisers think the philanthropic climate will be in the next six months.
The Present Situation Index shows a 5.3 percent increase over that index one year ago, and fundraisers are remaining optimistic about future fundraising with the Expectations Index showing a 3.4 percent increase from one year ago.
Key Findings for the Summer 2006 Philanthropic Giving Index
– The overall Philanthropic Giving Index is 88.9, an increase of 3.0 percent from six months ago and 4.3 percent from one year ago.
– Almost 33 percent of fundraisers reported success with Internet giving, an all time high.
– Major gift and planned giving fundraising, both personal solicitation techniques, also reached their all time highest reported success rates (88.7 percent and 77.3 percent, respectively).
– Fundraisers are reporting that giving for last summer’s hurricanes did not come at the expense of giving to their charity (69.8 percent) or other charities (59.7 percent).
– Arts, culture, and humanities organizations, along with health organizations, are statistically significantly the least likely to be in a capital campaign at this time, while religious organizations were statistically significantly the most likely to be involved with a capital campaign.
In the first half of 2006, fundraisers were more hopeful than they had been in the past year about the climate for philanthropy in the United States. The Philanthropic Giving Index for Summer 2006 is 88.9, a 3.0 percent increase from six months ago and a 4.3 percent increase from one year ago (see table 1.)
The Present Situation Index is 86.6, a 2.0 percent increase since December 2005 and a 5.3 percent increase from one year ago.
Finally, the Expectations Index is 91.2, a 4.1 percent increase from six months ago and 3.4 percent increase from this time last year. All indications suggest a very positive fundraising climate, which is expected to continue.
