More nonprofits reported an increase in total private support this year than reported a decline, according to a new survey from Grenzebach Glier and Associates, a fundraising consultancy.
Forty-one percent of organizations with fiscal years that ended in June said they saw an increase in private support — individual, foundation, and corporate gifts — in fiscal year 2020 over the previous year. About a third said private support decreased, and 26 percent said it remained about the same.
The firm has conducted the survey for the past 19 weeks. The latest results come from an online survey conducted August 24 to September 6 with 1,764 respondents. More than half of the respondents were colleges and universities. The remainder were K-12 schools, health-care organizations, arts and culture groups, foundations, and social services nonprofits.
Some of the data point to long-term challenges for fundraisers.
Compared with the previous year, 54 percent of respondents said fewer new donors supported them this year. Among groups that were running pandemic-specific fundraising efforts, 41 percent said they saw an increase in first-time donors to those efforts.
Nearly 70 percent of respondents had lower giving participation rates. The survey did not define participation rate but allowed organizations to interpret that question using their own definition. Typically it refers to the percentage of alumni or other constituents who donate in a given year..
Each week, the survey asks respondents what kind of negative impact they expect to see on fundraising over the next 30, 60, or 90 days. In the latest report, 42 percent of nonprofits said they expect to see a high negative impact over the next 90 days, though that is the lowest projection the survey has tracked since June. Thirty-five percent expect to see a moderately negative impact on fundraising, and 10 percent expect to see a low negative impact.
Among the other findings:
- The survey asked whether respondents’ fundraising offices were open or when they planned to open. Nineteen percent said their fundraising offices were already open for in-person work, while roughly a third each said they planned to reopen in 2021 or they didn’t know.
- Just 4 percent of fundraising offices said they were already conducting in-person events limited to 10 people. Thirty-seven percent expected to resume small events sometime from January to March of 2021, and 40 percent hadn’t decided.
- Three-quarters of respondents said their organization or department had to cut its budget due to the pandemic. The level of cuts varied widely, but 5 to 9 percent and 10 to 19 percent were the most commonly reported ranges.
- Twenty-four percent said their organization or department had to institute permanent layoffs, and 33 percent said workers had been furloughed. Of those that had permanent layoffs, 37 percent said those cuts represented less than 5 percent of their work force, while 32 percent said 10 to 19 percent of the department or organization’s staff had been eliminated.
