Nonprofits Saw Decrease In Number of Donors and Revenue In First Quarter 2008
The Target Analytics Quarterly Index of National Fundraising Performance, which measures trends in fundraising every quarter, has reported that in Q1 of this year, donors and revenue both decreased.
The number of donors has been decreasing for the past two and a half years but the amount given by each donor increased, keeping total revenue up.
But now, we are seeing decreases in both measures. Only 39% of the 70 organizations measured in the index had positive growth in the number of donors; while 40% showed positive revenue growth. The report said:
"Until now, increases in revenue per donor compensated for donor declines, allowing overall revenue to continue to grow. In the most recent quarter, however, continued revenue per donor growth could not make up for the donor decreases and prevent overall revenue from declining."
We would like to hear what your experiences thus far in 2008 have been in fundraising and ability to attract new donors. Meanwhile, here are some other ideas for coping with tough times.
I really think the way these numbers will go up is through new services and technologies in online giving. The organization I’m apart of, http://www.uPlej.com, has just launched this year and we feel has great potential to find many many new donors. We have combined charitable giving with social networking.
So that’s one thing I and the people around me have done to attract new donors this year.
I raise money over the phone for a lot of really good Non-Profit Organizations. Mercy Corps, Care, American Bible Society, and so on. I found that giving is WAY down because of the economy. Average people are crunching numbers and can’t afford to give right now. The poor are able to give nothing to very very little, BUT, the big donors out there are still giving very large amounts.
I think one of the ways to keep attracting new donors is by keeping your organization’s website updated and relevant. Another thing that is important is to keep informing existing and past donor’s about your organization’s work. Keep building those relations. At my organization REACH we moved away from a gieving/receiving relationship with donors and really try to make them part of our family by emailing and phoning them regularly. One of the mistakes organization’s seems to make is not respecting donors.