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Charitable contributions take beating in first half of 2010
Aug 25, 2010 (The Kansas City Star - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Charity took a beating in the first part of this year, according to a survey by GuideStar, a website that maintains financial information about nonprofit organizations.
GuideStar said four in 10 public charities and private foundations had smaller donation totals between Jan. 1 and May 31 than in the same period of 2009.
"For the most part, the pain was pretty well spread among different types of organizations," GuideStar reported.
But the survey of more than 7,000 nonprofits also found that three in 10 of the nonprofit respondents reported improved fundraising, and nearly three in 10 reported no change from a year earlier.
Most food banks, in particular, reported increases in donations.
Nonprofit operators said 2009 was a terrible year for comparisons.
"Having a measure of stability in 2010 is welcome, but we are comparing it to our organization's worst (fundraising) performance in decades," wrote Sherry Williams, chief executive of an Ohio affiliate of the National Society to Prevent Blindness.
That the climate for philanthropy remains tenuous showed up in nearly one in 10 of the respondents' reporting that "their organizations were in imminent danger of closing."
Another worrisome revelation: The recession and joblessness contributed to more demand for mental health services, but mental health and crisis- intervention nonprofits were most likely to report contribution declines.
Many nonprofits cited cutbacks in state and local government funding as a problem.
Because of budget crunches, about one in five organizations said they had been forced to cut back on services offered, and about one in 10 said they had cut employees, forcing an increased reliance on volunteers to replace paid staff.
At the same time, about six in 10 agencies and foundations said demand for their services had risen.
Most respondents said fewer people were giving, and the size of gifts was smaller.
On top of smaller donations from individuals, corporations and government, many respondents said grants from foundations were discontinued.
About three in 10 organizations said their 2010 budgets had been cut back from 2009, with more than half of them saying they had saved money by cutting back on services or programs. Half also said they had frozen staff salaries, and about a quarter said they had reduced employee benefits, reduced staff pay, or both.
To reach Diane Stafford, call 816-234-4359 or send e-mail to stafford@kcstar.com.
To see more of The Kansas City Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.kansascity.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Kansas City Star, Mo.
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