By James B. Hyatt
Direct mail and major gifts are the most effective ways charities are raising money, and the near future should hold good things for nonprofits, according to a nationwide survey of development officers conducted by Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy.
The Philanthropic Giving Index is designed to gauge the state of the nation's nonprofit sector through a survey of development officers about their attitudes regarding the economy, the effectiveness of various money-raising techniques and whether they're conducting capital campaigns.
On a scale of one to 100, the index pegged the state of American philanthropy at 88.8, meaning the 320 surveyed executives held generally positive attitudes about the climate for fundraising and volunteer involvement.
Asked to rate the effectiveness of fundraising methods, these executives gave both direct mail and major gifts a 74 index, the top scores. Telephone solicitation was ranked least effective with a 41 index, and corporate gifts followed with a 52.
A full one-third of respondents say their groups have active capital campaigns, with another 21 percent planning to launch capital drives in the next six months, the survey showed.
The Center on Philanthropy started the index after researchers discovered there was no other comprehensive national survey of nonprofit operations.
Eugene R. Tempel, the center's executive director, says the index - modeled after the Consumer Confidence Index - is meant to help nonprofits gauge their performance.
"We know from reports there was a big increase in philanthropy last year, so if your group isn't doing well, you need to examine your methods more closely," he says.
While it's hard to draw conclusions from an initial survey, researchers were surprised to see no difference in attitudes or techniques among nonprofit executives from different regions of the country, Tempel says.
"There were differences, but not geographic ones. The preferences differed by nonprofit industries," he says.
For example, while telephone solicitation is rated as the least-effective fundraising method, educational institutions with a receptive alumni base find telephone calls quite effective. Small groups were pessimistic about phone calls but used them anyway because of the relatively low cost-per-contact versus direct mail.
This being the first survey of its kind, nonprofit officials so far have taken a wait-and-see attitude about the results, Tempel says.
"The questions that have come up are 'How will this be of help to us?' and 'Are these numbers relevant?'," he says. "After we do this a few times, we'll be able to tell."
The initial survey contacted 320 officials nationwide, with 251 people completing surveys for a 78.4 percent response rate. The index will be repeated every six months using the same group.
James B. Haytt can be reached at
jbhyatt@mindspring.com
