Nonprofit Fundraising to Improve in 2012

Jan. 20, 2012 - PRLog -- Many nonprofits report being "cut to the bone" in their budgets and fundraising results have not improved over the past year.  Nonprofit organizations, particularly smaller entities, are struggling to secure funding for the vital services they provide in their communities.  The 2011 Nonprofit Fundraising Study examines the priorities facing the nonprofit sector in 2012 and beyond. ⁽¹⁾

Outlook for 2012

The results from 2011 Nonprofit Fundraising Survey show that the long‐term trend for increased demand for services continues. 65% of responding organizations reported an increase in demand for their services in 2011.  Survey results from 875 responding charities.

Although some organizations plan cuts to operating expenses outside of program activities, more responding organizations 45% will hold their fundraising budgets steady for 2012. About 37% plan increases in fundraising, and just 13% project a lower fundraising budget for 2012 compared with 2011 ⁽²⁾

Most nonprofits solicit all lapsed prior donors in their databases at least once a year. FEP survey data indicates that on average 90% of these survey respondents’ prior donors did not make a gift in response to the annual giving appeals they received. ^(3-4)

The 2011 Fundraising Effectiveness Project report summarizes data from 2,377 survey respondents received as of February 2011, covering year-to-year fundraising results for 2009-2010. The report shows that:

•   For every $5.35 that respondent organizations raised in gift dollars in 2010, $5.54 was lost through attrition a negative 1.9% growth-in-giving ratio.
•   Gains of 58.6 percent in number of donors from 2009-2010 were offset by losses of 56.9%, for a positive 1.7% growth-in-giving ratio.

A year ago, 61% of organizations surveyed by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) anticipated increases in charitable giving in 2010. Among charities that participated in this year’s survey, 43% reported an increase in FY 2010 compared with 2009.

The survey organizations had sizeable growth in gifts from new, upgraded, and recaptured donors. These gains were more than offset by losses in gifts from downgraded, lapsed new, and lapsed repeat donors. As a result, net gains in the amount of gifts were -1.9%. ⁽⁵⁾

Despite the combined optimism and uncertainty for 2012, Andrew Watt, President and CEO of Association of Fundraising Professionals AFP gives nonprofits some sound advice and words encouragement:

“The future requires clear and confident leadership from charities, their executives, and chief volunteers [….].  We can still be very successful and have a lot of impact. That’s a key message we have to carry to our donors and supporters. Now is not the time to hang our heads, but work diligently, focus on stewardship and create the connections and partnerships that make fundraising and philanthropy possible.”

“The recession cloud may hover for years, and it could be as long as 2016 before donations return to levels raised before the economy soured.” ⁽⁶⁾

Top 10 Charities Raising the Most in America

1.   United Way Worldwide
2.   The Salvation Army
3.   Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund
4.   Task Force for Global Health
5.   American Red Cross
6.   Food for the Poor
7.   Schwab Charitable Fund
8.   American Cancer Society
9.   AmeriCares Foundation
10.   Catholic Charities

Success of one charity that bucked the declining trend is The Salvation Army which grew by 5.1 percent.  The Salvation Army attributed its growth largely to a publicity campaign called “Doing the Most Good,” which, after several years, has increased Americans’ understanding of the charity’s work to underserved.  Visit: SalvationArmyRx.org

Solutions for a Sustainable and Expanding Fundraising Harvest in 2012 and Beyond

It’s not sufficient to look only at gains in giving or the number of donors. To understand what is really happening in your organization, it is necessary to analyze both the fundraising gains and the fundraising losses from one year to the next so that you and your organization’s leadership can make growth-oriented decisions about both fundraising budgets and strategies.

Multichannel marketing is essential in strategic planning for 2012 and beyond.  Thinking outside the box and establishing partnerships with other organizations that fill a niche in the current economic environment are powerful ways to increase fundraising performance.

With a growing number of American’s struggling financially, there is a great way to serve them and at the same time create a substantial fundraising stream that has the ability to double every month.  There is such a program called the “Community Assistance Program” http://www.yousavemore.org/nonprofit.html (CAP) which is an outreach of NBBI, Inc., established in 1994, is debt free and rated A+ with the Better Business Bureau.

Every day across the nation people are forced to decide between paying for food, rent or needed medication.  The CAP program provides discount prescription drug cards to medical professionals and patients at no cost, cardholders save 10-85% off their prescription drugs every month and the card is accepted at over 80% of pharmacies nationwide.  In fact cardholders have saved over $200,000,000.00 on their prescription medications since October of 2009.

The CAP program has an exclusive fundraising program for nonprofit organizations; which is provided at absolutely no cost for approved 501c3’s.  CAP will design a complimentary webpage like SalvationArmyRx.org as well as design branded discount prescription drug cards with your charities logo at no cost.  Every month when consumers fill their prescriptions, presenting your nonprofits discount drug card, you receive funds for your organization.

It is true that a quality online presence is a crucial piece and growing, with an increase in 2010 of over 34% or over $20 billion it is still only representative of just 10% of fundraising overall results.

Fundraising success in 2012 and beyond will primarily come from repeat donors and forming alliances with strategic partnerships that are relevant, fill and urgent need for society and who provide tools and support for your organization; such as CAP.

Marketing and branding are essential components, however donors and volunteers must fall in love with you.  More and more Americans are looking for a cause to fall in love with and engage with; Occupy 2012 though unique, they are a perfect example that we can learn from in organizing more people around your nonprofits mission and purpose.

References:

1)   Late Fall 2011 Nonprofit Fundraising Study Urban Institute, http://www.urban.org/publications/412466.html
2)   Late Fall 2011 Nonprofit Fundraising Study  http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412466-Late-Fall-2011-No...  
3)   2010 Fundraising Effectiveness Survey Report, Urban Institute http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/1001529-2010-Nonprofit-Fundraising-Survey.pdf
4)    2011Fundraising Effectiveness Survey Report, Association of Funding Professionals, November 17, 2011 http://www.afpnet.org/files/ContentDocuments/FEP2011ReportSupplement-11-18-11.pdf
5)   2011 Fundraising Effectiveness Survey Report March 2011 The Urban Institute http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412389-2011-Fundraising-Effectiveness-Survey
6)   The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Giving USA’ Forecasts Tough Years Ahead for Fund Raisers June 11, 2011 http://philanthropy.com/article/Giving-USA-Forecasts-Tough/127952/

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Community Assistance Program (CAP) is a free program Helping the Uninsured and the Under Insured across the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, which has saved cardholders over $200,000.000.00 in prescription savings since October 2009.