Officials at 116 large charities provided data and other insights about giving at their organizations during the first half of 2020. The nonprofits in the analysis typically raise about 10 percent of all contributions made annually by individuals, foundations, and corporations.
During the first six months of the year, overall giving to the nonprofits in our survey was nearly 21 percent higher than it was during the same period in 2019. In the second quarter, giving spiked almost 41 percent above the same time last year.
Some organizations did far better than that. Donations to Feeding America’s national office rose by nearly 46 percent in the first six months of the year. Those funds are sorely needed: In the first half of the year, food banks that are part of the Feeding America network served 60 percent more people. In that same time, Volunteers of America saw a 166 percent increase in giving, thanks to a large foundation grant. Likewise, the Communities Foundation of Texas saw donations jump 162 percent from January to June as donors contributed to Covid-19 relief funds. And the Nature Conservancy, which protects land, also received a surge of donations, with 40 percent more flowing into the organization in the first half of the year. That money came largely from wealthy donors as people at other income levels held back amid job losses and economic uncertainty.
Some of the biggest donation losses came at charities that rely on in-person events like walkathons and galas. Thirty-one of the nonprofits in our survey saw giving decline in the first half of 2020 compared with last year.
Across the board, organizations are tempering their expectations for the end of the year. Some fundraisers worry whether individuals who felt compelled to address the crises of 2020 early in the year will continue to give as unprecedented needs spiral and donors remain concerned about their own jobs and finances. In addition, many fundraisers expect donors will take a pause in their giving while they wait for the outcome of next week’s election.
Over all, giving results mirror the state of the economy. Many of America’s most affluent have seen their economic fortunes recover after the initial jolt of Covid-19 closings, and they are giving significant sums.
“The people who had good jobs, good incomes, had assets — they recovered just fine in most cases, but poorer people, lower-income people, people of color have gotten decimated,” says Brian Gallagher, chief executive of United Way Worldwide. “Anyone who’s in a position to give is giving the same or more. But you’ve got tens of millions who aren’t in a position.”
Still, smaller donors have stepped up in a big way, with many nonprofits reporting surges in new supporters this year. Of the 94 organizations that answered a question about small gifts, 55 said they had seen an increase in contributions that probably came from low-income or middle-income Americans.
The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank has received gifts from more than 10,000 new donors in 2020. “We are continuing to receive donations at a higher level than any year in the past,” says director of development Jennifer Powell.
The food bank, which is part of the Feeding America network, saw a lot of $600 and $1,200 gifts — the amount of the federal stimulus checks, Powell says. Those gifts often came with a note that read, “I don’t need this. I want this to go to ensuring that no one is hungry,” she says.
Uneven Revenue Streams
With no end to the pandemic in sight, some fundraisers wonder how much longer that growth in giving will continue. That uncertainty is especially concerning for charities that saw increases from just a few revenue streams, while others decreased during the pandemic.
That dynamic is stark at public media organizations, where individual contributions — especially from monthly donors — spiked while corporate support plummeted. Such one-sided revenue increases are unsustainable, says Michal Heiplik, president of the Contributor Development Partnership, which assists public media organizations with fundraising.
“I don’t expect this to continue,” he says. “This kind of growth in fundraising essentially that public broadcasting has experienced, it’s nice to watch it, but it’s not something that I believe we should get used to.”
Worry About 2021
For museums and other cultural institutions, the pandemic has challenged their very existence. The Metropolitan Museum of Art shut its doors on March 13 and remained closed until late August, when a limited number of masked visitors were again allowed at its main location. Before this year, the museum had not closed for longer than three consecutive days in more than a century.
Admissions revenue this year is about 20 percent of what it was last year, and the museum is trying to make up for that loss by raising additional philanthropic funds.
Donations from individuals at all income levels have been strong, and overall fundraising is holding steady with last year, says Clyde Jones, senior vice president for institutional advancement. Still, the museum expects the closure and slow reopening to result in a $150 million budget shortfall over a 12 month period, starting when the museum closed.
Jones worries how donors will respond if the museum has to shut down again.
“My concern is how long will people stay committed if they can’t come. That’s a huge, huge fear,” he says. “I don’t know how many times we can go back to people and say, ‘It’s an emergency again.’ You become a little like Chicken Little. How often can the sky fall?”
Additional details about the survey findings, more analysis about other sources of giving, a look at how fundraising strategies are changing, and a report on state of online events are available to Chronicle subscribers. People who register can see a sampling of the information in this special report.
Eleanor Walsh, Karenna Warden, and Soolgi Hong contributed to this report.
