Are Individuals Giving Again?

I was talking recently with a fundraiser from across the country who noted, in passing, that during the recession individual donors have held onto causes near and dear – but haven’t embraced new ones.

For us here in New York City, that was certainly true through the free-fall economy of 2008-2009.

But we’ve been finding that, starting last Spring, individuals are giving again – to causes both new and old.

Well maybe New Yorkers are more adventurous (aren’t they always?)…or maybe the economy here in New York hasn’t bottomed out as deep as the rest of the country…but Cause Effective’s clients have been gaining new donors recently in droves.

This doesn’t mean that the nonprofit economy in New York is in rosy shape – the recent State cuts and upcoming City ones are almost insurmountable for many nonprofits – but it does mean that in this neck of the woods, putting effort into reaching and attracting new individual donors is likely to pay off.

In fact, we’re working with a number of nonprofits who were reluctant to go down this road before…and didn’t have to. Now they have to, and while their boards are certainly nervous about fundraising, we’re seeing more and more board members willing to go over this cliff – because it’s clear to them that the old ways of doing business are not viable nor sustainable.

For organizations that have a lot of fans and have never asked them for support, the combination of a strong public presence and board members much more motivated, is pretty potent. Once we help them identify those folks, equip their askers with the right stuff, create structures for cultivation, etc. – they’ve got a lot of people ready to give.