The Down Side of Giving

When did giving become all about the donor and not about the
nonprofit?   With all of the years behind me, no one could
consider me naïve, so what could make me ask this question?  Is it just wishful thinking?  Or that ever pressing need to believe that
people still really are decent, caring, compassionate? 

We saw changes in people’s giving last year that seem directly attributable to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that nearly doubled the standard deduction, erasing the need in some people’s minds to Read more

August 22nd, 2019 0 Comment

When Self-Perpetuation Overtakes Mission

Every data point confirms that the nonprofit sector keeps growing and all indications are that the growth is not slowing down. GivingUSA told us this week that for the second year in a row, giving in both real and adjusted for inflation dropped in 2018. Another source tells us that the percentage dip in giving increases as the amount given decreases. In other words, smaller donors are disappearing faster than those who give bigger gifts, defined as $1000 or more.

Coupled with Read more

June 20th, 2019 0 Comment

Who Do You Trust?

As we approach the last quarter of the year, the three months when, historically, more dollars come to nonprofits than any other three month period, I’m often asked by reporters and regular folk how to determine if a nonprofit is “donation-worthy.”
Unfortunately, our job at proving our worthiness got harder last year, as trust in nonprofits continued to drop.  According to Edelman’s annual Trust Barometer (which was released the beginning of this year), people from around the world are losing trust in government, for-profits, nonprofits, and the Read more

September 20th, 2018 0 Comment

Giving by Generation

Conflicting data about fundraising is, unfortunately, nothing new.  It is akin to the data on drinking alcohol:  don’t do it; do it in moderation for certain health benefits.  Nor is it new to feel overwhelmed by all the data, even when it isn’t conflicting.  So when three different sources predict that 2018 donations will fall because of last year’s changes to the standard deduction, people pay attention.

The American Enterprise Institute, the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the Tax Policy Center have all said that Read more

June 28th, 2018 0 Comment

The Great Financial Divide

So many in the nonprofit sector toil to bridge the ever widening chasm that divides the rich as they get richer and the middle and lower classes as they get poorer.  We work to level the playing fields for everyone and to ensure equal access to those things that make life livable, such as affordable health care, arts and culture and a healthy environment.  Yet the very sector in which we work is experiencing that same divide.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the growing Read more

April 24th, 2015 0 Comment

The Most Deserving List

This is the time of year for lists – top 10 movies of the year, top 10 retweets, top 10 pictures of dogs dressed as reindeer. That’s one way of collecting data.

View image | gettyimages.com

Every semester, I start off one of my graduate classes by asking the students to explore the various sources of data on nonprofits. I give them starting sources, such as the National Center for Charitable Statistics, Giving USA and the Foundation Center, making it clear that they are by no means Read more

December 15th, 2014 1 Comment

Playing the numbers

The Center on Philanthropy just released its Giving USA 2012 report.  To announce the findings, they take their dog and pony show on the road and included Philadelphia for the first time. .

In case you have missed the high level summary of the results, here it is.  (I’ll leave you to decide whether the news is good, bad or indifferent.)

Giving by individuals, 81% of all gifts given in 2011, rose almost 4% in 2011, but only .8% in inflation adjusted dollars.
Adding up individual giving, from Read more

June 21st, 2012 0 Comment

The Power of Numbers. Or Not.

I believe in the power of statistics. But I also believe that statistics can be manipulated. They can be manipulated by the method of their collection and by the method of their presentation. And while both bother me tremendously, it is the latter that worries me the most, as the naïve reader/listener may be easily duped. And once duped, bad decisions may follow.Take, for example, the following. Ted Hart has been tracking online giving since 2001, when a mere $550 million dollars was given Read more

The Power of Numbers. Or Not. July 11th, 2008 1 Comment

Zero Sum Game

Two new data points give with one piece of news and take away with the other.

According to Giving USA 2008, the news appears all glowing. In 2007, over $306 billion was given to charities by foundations, corporations and individuals, an increase of 3.9%. And, good news or better news, depending upon how your organization’s planned giving skills are, bequest giving rose 6.9%, after what is referred to as a “steep decline” in 2006. The conclusion Read more

Zero Sum Game July 7th, 2008 0 Comment