If you’ve been working in the nonprofit sector for a while, you probably know something about the decline in charitable giving over the last twenty years. While overall giving remains propped up by the continued influence of major donors, the number of households giving to charity is in rapid decline.
Some might even call it alarming.
But what do donors think about this? Do they even know about it?
The Donor Participation Report from the Wise Giving Alliance at Give.org surveyed over 3200 adults across the US and Canada, and this was one of their questions:
In 2000, 66.2% of American households donated to charities and other nonprofit organizations. By 2018, only 49.6% of American households donated to charity.
What Donors Think about the Decline in Charitable Giving
Overall, donors were not surprised by this alarming metric, but they were concerned.
64% of people surveyed said they were not surprised to learn that fewer people are donating to charity. However, 62% were concerned about it.
This suggests that overall, people want charities to exist and to continue doing their work because that work makes a tangible difference in our society. But it also indicates an awareness that generosity is in decline, and that people aren’t really sure what to do about it.
The study broke down the results into greater detail by categorizing people into five groups and then analyzing the same question within each group. Here are the five groups:
- Not actively engaged with charitable giving in the last five years
- Stopped giving within the last five years
- Decreased giving
- No change in giving
- Increased giving
Let’s look at what each category of survey respondent felt about the statistic regarding the decline in charitable giving.
Not Much Variation in Surprise
With one exception, donors and non-donors across these categories were not that surprised to learn about the decrease in charitable giving over the last 25 years. Four out of five categories of respondents were surprised at a rate within the 30% range.
Only one group – active donors who increased their giving in the last five years – was surprised at a rate above 40%, with 44% of them indicating surprise.
This may stem from the tendency people often have to believe that other people think and act like them, and know the things they know. Because we’re giving more, other people probably are too, such a person might believe. So it surprised more of these types of people to discover that charitable giving is actually in decline.
Wide Variation in Concern
While most groups weren’t too surprised about the decline in charitable giving, there were huge differences in their levels of concern about this.
Only 45% of people not actively engaged in charitable giving were concerned, and only 38% of those who decreased their giving in the last five years were concerned.
However, 64% of those who stopped giving and of those who didn’t change their giving were concerned about the decline, and 77% of those who increased their giving were concerned.
There are two very distinct camps on this question, and it gives great insight for fundraisers into how to use this concern about giving when communicating with donors and prospects.
Here are some key takeaways you might be able to use.
Engaged Donors Care the Most about Nonprofit Work
The two categories already giving the most – increased donors and those who continue to give atas they always have – seem to exhibit quite a bit of concern about the state of generosity.
This indicates that your most consistent and passionate donors are not losing their motivation to give, and that you will be able to continue relying on them as long as their financial situations don’t change too much for the worse.
While the number of households donating has declined, the ones who haven’t changed, or have changed for the better, aren’t likely to follow suit.
This means you can continue to be confident in a solid and passionate donor base.
Donors Who Decrease Giving May Be Giving Up
It’s very interesting that donors who have decreased giving exhibit so much less concern about the decline in giving compared to the other groups.
These are people who have given with at least some consistency, but for whatever reason have reduced their giving in the past five years. So, they’re still giving, but just not as much. And yet, these donors report relatively little concern about the overall decline in giving.
This could be interpreted in several ways. But to us, it feels like cynicism, as if they’re wrestling with giving up on trying to help, resigned to a perceived reality that things aren’t going to turn around.
Someone concerned about the decline in giving, who also has reduced their own giving, would only reduce their giving out of financial necessity. But they’d still be concerned about the issues nonprofits are addressing.
For such a large majority of these reduced donors to have little concern about the decline in generosity thus suggests these donors are feeling done. This implies it would be difficult to motivate these types of donors to increase their giving again.
But fundraisers could start by trying to improve the quality of communication and deliver more value to these donors, not just keep asking them for money.
Donors Who Stopped Giving Still Want to Help
In contrast to the reduced donors, those who stopped giving altogether in the last five years still report great concern for the overall decline in charitable giving – 64% to 38%.
That’s a staggering difference, especially considering that the previous group is still giving something, and that this group has ceased donating.
How do we explain this?
The most likely explanation for us is that donors who have stopped giving didn’t want to stop, but were compelled to because of financial difficulties or other pressures. But deep down, they still care about making the world a better place and possibly wish they could start giving again.
Fundraisers would be wise to try to parse out these two groups and put more energy into reviving lapsed donors than trying to motivate donors who have reduced their giving to increase it again.
A lapsed donor who is still passionate about your mission can be inspired to give again, especially if their financial situation changes again and if that was the reason they stopped giving. But a cynical donor who is losing their passion for giving will be a tough sell.
Admittedly, it might not always be easy to tell the difference between these two groups.
If a monthly donor changes their donation from $50 to $25 per month, that’s easy to spot. But if an occasional donor goes from giving $250 per year to $180 the next year, that’s more difficult to identify. Even more challenging would be a donor who gives to multiple charities, and then stops giving only to some of them.
To the remaining ones, they’d see this donor as one who hasn’t changed their giving. The other charities would think this person stopped giving altogether, when in reality they just decreased it.
So there are some weeds here.
But the fact remains – donors who stop giving seem to retain a great amount of concern for the missions of the nonprofits they care about, whereas donors who decrease their giving seem to b e feeling less passion.
Donors Who Increase Giving May Increase It Even More
The most positive part of this survey is that increased donors show great concern over the health of nonprofits. Not only have they increased their giving, but their high degree of concern suggest you may be able to motivate them to increase it again.
Don’t be afraid to pursue this as a strategy. If you can engage with donors enough to confirm that they are concerned about your mission and really want to keep helping and make a difference, you can probably inspire these donors to give even more.
Consistent Donors Can Be Motivated to Increase Giving
Donors who haven’t changed their giving in the last five years also show a high degree of concern about the state of nonprofits.
This suggests that, even though they haven’t changed their giving, they might be open to doing so if properly engaged and inspired.
Make it a priority to reveal to them the difference they’re making. Find out what they care about. Communicate consistently about things that matter to them. Work this into your strategy with your loyal donors, and some of them may decide to increase their giving.
Do You Know Who Your Lapsed Donors Are?
Lapsed donors represent a segment of people who can be inspired to give again to your organization. And as you’ve seen, your loyal consistent donors and increased donors represent more potential revenue.
Do you know who these people are? Can you track their presence within your data and CRM?
The Fundraising Report Card makes it super easy to track your data and categorize your donors into all sorts of helpful groups. You can track a host of metrics such as lapsed donors, giving amounts, donation frequency, lifetime giving, repeat donors, average donation amounts, and so much more.
And unlike trying to do all this yourself using spreadsheets and report functions, you can do it in seconds with the Fundraising Report Card.
Upload your data today – get stunning visuals and updated donor metrics in seconds.
