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Search for Contributors May 2011

About This Report

For many organizations that rely on donations and contributions, the past two years have been difficult. The Nonprofit Research Collaborative's survey of senior executives at over 2300 public charities and over 150 private foundations reports that donations in the first nine months of 2010—in comparison with donations in the same period in 2009—were uneven. About the same proportion of organizations report increases as report decreases; about one-quarter report unchanged donations. A larger proportion of organizations in the health, public-society-benefit, and religious sectors report decreases than increases. "International organizations were the most likely to report" increased contributions, particularly for disaster-relief efforts. Organizations in the arts, education, environment/animals, and human-service sectors report a mix of increases and decreases. Even institutions such as Stanford University and Harvard University—leading academic fund-raisers—have seen donations fall, according to the 3 February 2011 San Francisco Chronicle.