Report: Charities Not Faring Better Than Last Year

Despite recent reports of an improving economy, a recent survey says charities faced many difficulties fundraising this holiday season. WFPL’s Elizabeth Kramer reports.The news comes in the latest Philanthropic Giving Index, a report prepared by the Center for Philanthropy at Indiana University. The report is comparable to the Consumer Confidence Index.Nonprofits in the survey say they are not faring better than they were a year ago although their expectations that they will do better with future fundraising has increased somewhat.Adrienne Davis is with the Center for Philanthropy."Nonprofits’ overall confidence in the charitable giving climate has risen slightly," she says, "but is still at record lows for the 11-year history of this study."The study also indicates that most fundraisers for nonprofits say they have made changes to how they do business in the past year."A majority [of nonprofits] reported that they have put more focus on stewardship and on communicating with their donors," Davis says. "And they’ve also put greater emphasis on setting organizational priorities and making tough budget decisions."Davis says these changes are ones that many donors have requested of nonprofits, especially during the recession.Over the past two years, several Louisville nonprofits have used many tactics to reduce their budgets, including sharing resources with other organizations.Davis says attitudes about future fundraising efforts vary according to the type of nonprofit concerned."Educational fundraisers and those were more optimistic than most of the rest of their peers and other nonprofit organizations," she says. "Fundraisers for human services organizations were the least optimistic."During this recession human service organizations have seen an increase in demand for their services, putting greater expectations on their staff members and their need for funding.