5 Noteworthy Results from Giving USA 2013 Nonprofit Fundraising Report

Nonprofit fundraising reports remain an excellent tool for organizations to benchmark their own results against. Our industry is fortunate to have many reliable resources that give us a fairly accurate picture on how we are performing collectively and also by size, sector and geographic location. Some excellent examples of industry reporting that I have recently written about has included the Nonprofit Fundraising Study, Underdeveloped: A National Study of Challenges Facing Nonprofit Fundraising and Charitable Giving Report, How Nonprofit Fundraising Performed in 2012.  The just-released Giving USA 2013 report is another example of an excellent annual industry report as it provides a thorough overview of 2012 fundraising results in the US that encompasses “giving by individuals, bequest, corporations, and foundations.” The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy researched and wrote the report for the Giving USA Foundation and although some results are in-keeping with others I’ve written about, I’ve included 5 noteworthy results below:

1. $316.23 Billion – Total contributions made in the U.S. making it the third year in a row that an increase was experienced. The increase represents 3.5% over 2011 results (1.5% when inflation is factored). Interestingly when analyzed by donor type, giving by individuals factored 72% of the overall total with an increase of $8.67 billion in donations.
2. Corporate Donors – Giving by corporations had the largest increase with 12.2%, which is remarkable as it represents almost three times the second highest which was giving by foundations with an increase of 4.4%. In-kind and product donations have contributed to the growth in corporate giving. The only donor type to experience a decrease was giving by bequest which experienced a decrease of -7.0%.
3. Individual Donors – There was an increase of 3.9% in giving from individual donors. The highlights of the report suggest that “the willingness of individuals and households to give to charity is associated with feelings of financial security. As the economy continues its slow upward climb, contributions from individuals are rising in the same way.”
4. Religion – Although religious-based fundraising revenue factored as the sector with the most contributions (32%), it was one of only two that did not see an increase in 2012. The other was giving to foundations with a decline of -4.6%. Those that had the largest increase were the arts and environment and animal welfare type organizations.
5. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – The GDP was one of several factors influencing fundraising results. Based on inflation-adjusted results the total giving in relation to the GDP represented 2.0% which is down 0.2% from pre-recession giving which stood at 2.2% of GDP back in 2006. The report suggests that it will take at least six years to see the same giving levels experienced back in 2007.

The incredibly thorough 282-page Giving USA 2013 report provides in-depth analysis by source of contributions and subsectors for a fee but a free report highlights document which provides key factors relating to the rise in giving can also be downloaded. It will be interesting to see how 2013 results compare to 2012 and if the steady climb to recovery continues as the report expects. How have your fundraising results been trending in the past three years? What are your predictions for 2013?

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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.