Observing trends in religious donations in the USA

This is a summary of an older story from the Nonprofit Times TV.  Want to see the story in full?  Click here.

When it comes to giving and fundraising in the nonprofit sector, religious giving has always topped the list as the main component of the overall donation total. In 2009, religious giving experienced a slight decline of 1% as compared with the previous year, whereas the nonprofit sector as a whole experienced a 7% decline over the same period. This video shares some interesting insights about the challenges that religious institutions face when it comes to attracting the attention of donors. The presentation is clear and well presented.



Challenges facing religious giving figures in the current economy

Sharing some of his thoughts on this issue is Bill Wildey, director of funds development and marketing with Church World Service. Bill says that a growing number of congregations have a growing proportion of people who are battling with unemployment, salary cuts and the loss of stability. This of course has a direct impact on the kinds of resources that are available to and in the religious sphere. One area that Church World Service is involved in heavily is that of refugee relocation and resettlement within the United States, and dealing with the associated immigration challenges can sometimes be tricky when trying to assist refugees in this way.

The business of attracting the attention of potential donors is made more challenging in light of tough economic conditions. One of the difficulties also being experienced is persuading people to exercise compassion and generosity as it relates to various humanitarian endeavors that they themselves are not impacted by. People remain far more inclined to give towards causes that they or a loved one are personally affected by. The prediction is that this will probably not be changing in the near future, with the current trend continuing well into 2011 and beyond. Have a look at this video to learn more about the fundraising challenges faced by religious organizations.

It really isn’t easy giving away money

Despite claims that giving money away is easy, Dennis McIlnay, in his book Foundations and Higher Education offers certain findings indicating that giving away money can be complicated and difficult.

These findings come from a gathering of information from philosophers, philanthropists and foundation officers.

Among the findings:

•Grantmaking is more subjective than objective and is based on the assumption that judicious funding decisions are possible. There is no precise measuring stick to select a successful grant project.
•Foundations rerely publicly articulate the tenets they apply in grantmaking. Their grantmaking criteria are rarely described and too rarely discussed.
•Grantmaking may be inherently difficult because of the danger of doing more harm than good.
•Some foundations overreact to the subjectivity of grantmaking by attempting to quantify all aspects of the process. Others adopt an attitude of detachment that borders on arrogance.
•Foundation staffs are often the targets of animosity from rejected applicants, and the tenuous relationship with grantseekers may cause fear, anxiety, isolation, aggression and narcissism.
•The power of money may corrupt foundation officers no less than other professionals. Foundation officers have been known to succumb to the “God complex.”
•A “genius for charity” is often cited as a necessary quality for foundation officers.

NonProfit Salaries Inch Up This Year Despite Poor Economy

Nonprofits across the board saw salary increases move up on average 2.1 percent for executive and administrative staff this year, according to the results of the new The NonProfit Times/BlueWater “2010 Nonprofit Organizations Salary & Benefits Report” just issued. This survey is among the most extensive compensation survey ever conducted, covering 259 titles and 34 benefit offerings.

“This study represents several firsts for data of this kind,” said John McIlquham, president and CEO of The NonProfit Times. In addition to the salary and benefit findings grouped by budget, employees and field of work, the study also provides operating unit compensation costs and practices that provide a snapshot of what organizations spend on salaries as a percentage of their budget, he pointed out.

Another first is a new report in the study on executive job families. No other study provides a report on what percentage of the operating budget accounts for the top 15 executive posts at nonprofits.

The study also offers not just salary but an in-depth look at benefits, often a big percentage of compensation costs that get little attention, according to McIlquham. The benefits portion of the study examines executive bonus and benefits, including participation and eligibility rates for retirement plans. Another interesting finding is employee turnover, he noted, that appears to be higher among larger organizations than smaller ones.

Overall, turnover at all organizations averaged 9 percent, with employees staying at an organization, on average, 6.2 years.

Eighty-five percent of all organizations surveyed offer some type of medical plan for employees, with two thirds of respondents indicating they offer a PPO plan. Employee participation in any medical plan was more than 53 percent, with the highest rates for EPO plans.

Almost 37 percent of nonprofit operating budgets are spent on total cash compensation costs. The average salary for a nonprofit chief executive officer/president last year was $111,838. The median salary was $90,000 while the maximum was $650,000. The average tenure for a nonprofit CEO is 9 years.

More than 36 percent of nonprofits pay their CEO a bonus of some kind. Twenty percent of nonprofits offer their executives some form of executive benefit, with the most common benefit a car or car allowance. Additional vacation days ranked second in popularity.

New to this year’s report is a table in each section that displays, at a glance, the changes in data from 2009 to 2010.

The data was collected using a state of the art on line questionnaire and information gathered was for US-based organizations only. Survey participants were asked to provide information as of March 1, 2010.

Robert Bruder-Matson, president of BlueWater NonProfit Solutions, said the survey data offered in these reports is more comparable and relevant to understanding how nonprofits engage their executives and their employees in an extremely tough economy. For example, Bruder-Matson emphasized, the executive job family, on average, accounts for 13 percent of an organization’s operating budget, with an average cost per employee of $85,296.

The study’s benchmarks provide executives, human resource directors and anyone looking at a position in nonprofits with the most timely and up to date information by geographic region as well as operating budget and type of organization.

The study can be purchased either for just salary data or compensation data or the 700-page combined report.

Click here to view a sample and order the full 2010 NonProfit Organizations Salary and Benefits Report.

Who will be our next President?

The economy was on everyone’s minds last week as the final Presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama got underway. McCain launched his attack concentrating on Obama’s $60 billion proposal to improve the economic problems in the U.S, suggesting that this plan would mean tax increases for many Americans. Both candidates spoke directly to “Joe the Plumber” who had confronted Obama Monday at a rally in Ohio regarding his tax policies. Joe Wurzelbacher, the plumber, suggested that Obama’s plan would increase his taxes. According to Obama, his plan would increase taxes on wealthy American’s making over $250.00, so “Joe the Plumber” must expect to do pretty well if he thinks he will be impacted. McCain asked Obama why he would want to increase anybodies taxes right now. “We both want to cut taxes,” Obama said. “The difference is who we want to cut taxes for.”

Obama fought back using his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden’s comment that McCain’s campaign advertising had been 100% negative according to a study by the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project that examined TV ad spending by the two candidates from September 28 to October 4.

According to the Campaign Media Analysis Group,"An analysis of campaign commercials aired over the last seven days shows Obama outspent McCain nationwide by more than 2-1: $21.5 million vs. $9.2 million. But just under half of the money Obama is spending is going toward negative spots, meaning the Illinois senator is roughly keeping pace with his GOP rival when it comes to negative commercials, in terms of cash spent," the story said.

Was there a clear winner in that debate? Which plan will offer the best hope for a bright future in the nonprofit sector? Let us know what you think.

Has the Money from Wall Street Dried up?

With the severe complexion of the financial industries’ bankruptcies, cutbacks, bailouts, and takeovers sweeping through financial markets, donations from highly paid financial professionals are expected to slump. Wall Street professionals have been a part of the richest 1% of the U.S. population. Some 51 percent of individual giving comes from the 10% of households in the highest income groups and slightly less coming from the 90% with income less than $100,000, according to Giving USA. “While higher-income families are major donors to many important institutions, ordinary-income donors are vital, too, for the health of the nonprofit sector in this country,” according to Del Martin, chair of Giving USA Foundation.

It is natural that as the economy slumps people will have less money to give to charity, however, “the trend of total giving of about 2% of income has remained about the same for the past 50 years”, according to Elizabeth Boris, director of the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C.

The effect of the financial crisis on giving is expected to be significant. Will it really? What will nonprofits do to make up for the shortfall? Perhaps the American middle-class will step in to shoulder the burden of bank bailouts and maintain the healthy philanthropic giving that has been our nature for so long. Though trickle-down hasn’t exactly worked, the question is, has it left charities out to dry?