Based on data from 4,138 organizations that raised more than $13 billion in the prior 12 months, The Blackbaud Index reported that overall charitable giving grew 1.3 percent for the three months ending April 2014, as compared to the same period in 2013.
Among 3,281 charities that raised $1.8 billion online in the prior 12 months, online giving grew 7.9 percent in the same three-month period, as compared to the same period in 2013.
Charitable giving grows for higher education institutions
Overall charitable giving for 558 colleges and universities in the U.S. that represent $1.5 billion in annual revenue grew 0.8 percent in the three months ending April 2014, as compared to the same period in 2013. Online giving for 416 colleges and universities that raised nearly $140 million over 12 months grew 20.5 percent during the same period.
“Higher Education is a very important sector in philanthropy in the U.S., and while most groups that track giving to higher education report results on an annual or semiannual basis, this new index will provide nonprofits with charitable giving trends on a monthly basis,” said Chuck Longfield, creator of the Index and chief scientist at Blackbaud. “Helping to fuel that growth, particularly at schools with capital campaigns, was a healthy stock market so that bodes well for their capital giving.”
Blackbaud also released a report today focused on the charitable giving trends to higher education institutions which features insight from John Lippincott, president of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), about key sector trends, and A Closer Look: Prospect Development at the University of Virginia.
“A rebounding economy and long-term investment in major gift donors paid off for colleges and universities in 2013,” said Lippincott. “Schools that have shown fundraising success also are doing a good job in their stewardship of donors, including younger donors, by engaging them in their institutions in ongoing ways.”
The new higher education index brings the number of specialty indices up to 10, which are: Arts & Culture, Environment & Animal Welfare, Healthcare, Human Services, International Affairs, K-12 Education, Medical Research, Public & Society Benefit, Faith-based, and now, Higher Education.
The Blackbaud Index provides the most up-to-date information on charitable giving today. Tracking more than $13 billion in US-based charitable giving, the Index is updated on the first of each month (or the next business day) and is based on a three-month moving average of year-over-year percent change. Featuring overall and online giving, the Index can be viewed by size and subsets of the nonprofit industry via an interactive online chart. The Index now features a fundraising benchmark calculator that allows users to easily chart their own results against the Index and historical data to provide a fuller view of charitable giving.
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Tags: Accounting, Income Tax, Nonprofit
