Philanthropic Funding Realities in the New Economy
The stock market has started to rise. Unemployment figures are dropping. Think the worst of The Great Recession has already happened for non-profits?Think again.
While signs indicate that the economy has begun to stabilize, the prospects for the non-profit community remain bleak reports Sandra Wood in a study commissioned by the Connecticut Humanities Council titled "Philanthropic Funding Realities in the New Economy: An Assessment of Funding Opportunities and Challenges in 2010."
Wood's report looks at the global recession and its effects on funding opportunities at all levels. The report, a must read for directors, development staff, board members, and anyone charged with fundraising for non-profit institutions, presents a sobering assessment of the national and local economy as well as the philanthropic landscape and funding options for the near term:
- 50% of respondents to a October 2009 United Way study expected revenue decreases from all sources while 93% reported an increase in demand for services;
- Only 12% of Connecticut respondents to a national Nonprofit Finance Fund survey anticipated a budget surplus and 41% expected a deficit;
- 30% of respondents to a January 2010 CT Association of Nonprofits survey reported a decrease of 10% or more from each of government grants or contracts, investment income, and corporate donations while 82% reported an increased demand for services.
Perhaps most important to know from a planning perspective is that the decreases in philanthropic and governmental funding caused by the recession are likely to last for as long as five to eight years. In addition to dramatic decreases in funding, the philanthropic community will face further changes in demographics, technology, communications and the very fabric of how the non-profit sector operates.
Read "Philanthropic Funding Realities in the New Economy" today to help your institution understand the new funding realities and what you can do to adapt.Click the link below to read the full report on "Philanthropic Funding Realities in the New Economy":
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It's time for "The Great Realignment" - time to trim bloated bureacracies, level the playing field between public and private sector work, time for Pension Reform, and to reward the most efficient, dynamic and responsive segment of the museum business - which is small museums. Funding agencies, foundations and philanthropists would do well (and better) to read Seth Godin's "Small is the New Big." "Best practices" and related B-school salestalk may or may not make for more effective performance. But they absolutely make things more costly and are inevitably about big organizations with big budgets and lots of layers that can be trimmed. 2010 is the year frugality comes back into fashion - watch this election cycle. It's inevitable.