Nonprofits Upbeat on 2019 Fundraising Growth

The most recent survey of nonprofits and donors by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC), a coalition of professional fundraising associations, finds that 60% of respondents expect to raise more money this year than they did in 2018! That’s encouraging news for fundraisers as they head into their key year-end giving campaigns. Many fundraisers feared the new tax law would undercut giving, but the survey found that only a 17% minority reported a negative impact from tax changes, and only 16% of donors said they would change the amount or method of their gift this year because of tax changes. It is true that since nonprofits rely heavily on year-end giving, certain continuing tax trends prove challenging, such as bundling or bunching, in which donors provide multiyear support but give a large donation in just one tax year and then skip contributions in the following year or years. Still, only 30% of nonprofit respondents reported that some donors were bundling. Based on various reports of reduced giving, many nonprofits also were concerned about fundraising growth, yet the NRC online survey of individual donors in March of this year found 56% said they gave the same amount in 2018 as in 2017, 33% gave more, and only 11% gave less. As a result, 63% of fundraisers said their charities did raise more money in 2018 than the previous year. Overall, 73% said they met their 2018 fundraising goals. It’s no wonder most fundraisers (60%) are confident they will raiser even more in 2019. Not all charities participated equally in 2018 growth, of course. Charities with budgets of $3 million to $49 million reported the most fundraising increases in 2018 over 2017 levels. And environmental and animal charities in particular were most likely to meet 2018 fundraising goals. Melissa Brown, author of the report and manager of the NRC, stresses that the upbeat forecast for fundraising needs to be undergirded by targeted, relevant, engaging direct mail and e-mail contacts. Overall, the survey supports both the need for a multi-channel fundraising strategy of frequent contacts. On average, after the first gift, organizations send about 3 more appeals by mail, an average of 4 appeals by e-mail, and invitations to events, including stewardship/recognition activities. For a link to the full survey, see our website blog post at https://www.acculist.com/most-nonprofits-upbeat-on-2019-fundraising-growth/