INDIANAPOLIS-- While most nonprofit fundraisers continue to be hopeful about the charitable giving climate, human services organizations are less optimistic this holiday season, according to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University’s Philanthropic Giving Index (PGI).
The PGI, which is the average of the current and future climates, stayed relatively steady over the last six months and remained above the figure from a year ago. The overall PGI was 89.7, which was approximately 1 percent lower than the summer 2004 PGI, and still is at nearly the level seen before September 11th, 2001.
"Nonprofit fundraisers in general are still confident that the charitable giving climate is strong," Center Executive Director Eugene R. Tempel said. "However, human services organizations are not experiencing the same level of confidence as the other organizations."
The human services organizations’ PGI of 77.6 was 12.1 points lower than the overall PGI in December 2004, the greatest difference between the two indexes in the survey’s six-year history. The next highest difference (9.3 points) between the two indexes occurred in December of 2000.
Fundraisers also were asked whether political fundraising in this election year "crowded out" charitable donations to other nonprofits. While most fundraisers disagreed with that notion, human services organization fundraisers were more likely than their peers to say political fundraising had some effect on other nonprofits. During the last two presidential election years, there has been a precipitous drop in the human services’ PGI from the summer to the December surveys. It fell by 11 points in 2004 and by 10 points in 2000.
Human services organizations and political fundraisers both rely on smaller gifts. In fact, the latest PGI shows that human services organizations do not currently find much success in major gift or planned gift fundraising, which usually account for larger gifts made to nonprofits.
Overall, fundraisers report that the economy is having a positive impact on fundraisers’ attitudes about the giving climate. The latest survey found that approximately 41 percent of respondents currently believe the economy is having a positive or very positive impact on fundraising. This is down from the 45 percent reported this past summer, but higher than the 31.4 percent who expressed the same opinion one year ago. The current report also showed that more than 22 percent of fundraisers believe the economy is having no impact while 36.2 believe the economy is having a negative or very negative impact on fundraising.
"We would have expected the PGI to increase this time because of the recent economic conditions," said Patrick M. Rooney, director of research at the Center on Philanthropy. "However, the uncertainty over the election and the unevenness of the economic recovery seems to have made fundraisers a little more ‘bearish’ about their perceptions of the fundraising than they were in the summer."
The PGI is similar to a Consumer Confidence Index for charitable giving. The report includes three indexes, on a scale from 0 to 100, based on the survey data: the Present Situation Index gauging the current giving environment, an Expectations Index assessing the climate for the next six months and the overall PGI that is an average of the current and future climates. Higher scores indicate more positive or optimistic attitudes about the climate for fundraising. In the latest survey, the Present Situation was 88.2 (+0.9 percent from Summer 2004) and the Expectations Index was 91.3 (-2.6 percent from Summer 2004).
PGI survey participants are chosen to represent a cross-section of nonprofits nationwide in terms of geographic region, annual revenue size, and type of organization. The survey, which was conducted in October, was mailed to 391 development executives of nonprofit organizations and 40 fundraising consultants. Of those, 187 fundraisers and 28 consultants responded, for an overall response rate of 49.9 percent.
The survey was sponsored in part by the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy.
The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, a part of the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, is a leading academic center dedicated to increasing the understanding of philanthropy and improving its practice through research, teaching, public service and public affairs programs in philanthropy, fundraising, and management of nonprofit organizations.