How bad was the recession when it came to charity giving? Well, last month I highlighted a few success stories, including how some had used the recession to galvanise their money.
There are lots of positive and negative anecdotes, and there are so many self-reporting surveys – “Did the recession harm your fundraising...?” But what happened to us a whole?
In Mal Warwick’s book “Fundraising When Money is Tight” he said it would depend. “It depends” is one of any consultant’s favourite lines – because it is true in so many situations.
Organisations were bound to be affected in different ways, depending on their services and how they fundraise. This certainly was the case.
Firstly, when it comes to fundraising, some methods of fundraising fared worse than others. Many charities reported corporate donations down whereas others reported growth in the acquisition of regular givers (regular givers = monthly donors/sustainers).
Secondly, some charities saw an increase in demand for their services, especially those linked to helping people deal with financial issues.
A third impact was the huge problems caused by falling and fluctuating exchange rates – at one point, the US dollar was trading nearly at parity with the British pound. For example this really hurt organisations raising pounds and spending dollars.

Finally, charity reserves and investments were at risk. Lower returns here could affect charities’ cash availability and funds for initiatives.
But how did the sector fare as a whole? Read the full article here: