Well, 2012 wasn’t too terrible a year. That’s according to the Blackbaud Charitable Giving Report for 2012 (PDF, registration required).
Giving last year was up 1.7% over 2011. That small growth was not evenly distributed:
- Large organizations grew by 0.3%
- Medium organizations grew 2.7%
- Small organizations grew 7.3%
Giving was also uneven by charity sector:
- Religious organizations were up 6.1%
- Healthcare down 3.4%
- International affairs down 4.7% (no large disasters)
On the other hand, online giving continued to significantly outpace overall giving. It grew 11% in 2012, and accounted for 7% of all donations in 2012, an increase over 2011.
The sectors making the most of online giving were healthcare and international: 14.2% of healthcare giving was online and 11.8% of international giving was online. This is a bright spot for the two sectors that more most down in overall giving. It shows they are well positioned for future growth as more and more giving migrates online.
Jeff Brooks has been serving the nonprofit community for more than 35 years and blogging about it since 2005. He considers fundraising the most noble of pursuits and hopes you’ll join him in that opinion. You can reach him at jeff [at] jeff-brooks [dot] com.