Nonprofit gains

Nonprofit organizations have seen a slight turnaround in giving so far this year that mirrors the slow economic recovery, according to a new survey from the Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC).

However, the small increase hasn’t helped the nonprofits cover an increased demand for services.

“One-fifth of charities in the survey said their budgets for 2011 will be lower than for 2010, forcing many of them to look at cuts in services, salaries and staff,” noted the NRC report.

The national survey showed that 36% of charities reported an increase in donations in the first nine months of 2010, compared with only 23% in the same period of 2009.

“We are beginning to see some positive signs, but despite that giving still has a long way to go to return to the levels it was at three or four years ago,” Patrick Rooney, executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, said in this report. “One-fifth of charities in the survey said their budgets for 2011 will be lower than for 2010, forcing many of them to look at cuts in services, salaries and staff.”

OTHER FINDINGS
• 37% of charities reported a decrease in giving, a dramatic change from 2009’s 51%. Among those experiencing a decline in giving, the main reason cited was fewer individual donations and smaller amounts.

• Giving remained unchanged at 26% of nonprofits in 2010 vs. 25% in 2009.

• Among the 20% of nonprofits anticipating reduced budgets next year, 66% say they will have to reduce programs, services or operating hours, 59% expect to cut or freeze staff salaries or benefits, and 49% are planning layoffs or hiring freezes.

• In four of eight subsectors, the share of organizations reporting an increase in contributions was about the same as the share reporting a decrease. The four with nearly equal percentages of organizations with giving up and giving down are: arts, education, environment/animals, and human services.

• International organizations were the most likely to report an increase in contributions, reflecting donations made for disaster relief.

• In three subsectors — health, public-society benefit, and religion — a larger share of the organizations reported declines than reported increases.

• The larger an organization’s annual expenditures, the more likely it reported an increase in charitable receipts in the first nine months of 2010 compared with the same period in 2009.

• Most organizations were guardedly optimistic about 2011, with 47% percent planning budget increases, 33% to maintain their current level of expenditures, and 20% anticipating a lower budget for 2011.