The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - (Page 5) MONEY Continued from page 1 might not be a good economic indicator because it depends on the number of mailings and acquisitions. Economists also suggested taking a look at measures other than M1 and M2. The Federal Reserve tracks money in circulation and ready for use on a monthly basis.The M1 supply covers the most liquid forms of money and includes currency, travelers’ checks, demand deposits and other checkable deposits. In addition to including M1, M2 consists of savings deposits, small time deposits and retail money market mutual funds. The money supply typically rises before the holidays in December before subsiding again in March. The economic swoon during the final two quarters of 2008 seems to have sent the nation’s money supply and direct mail fundraising on divergent paths. While the feds have been boosting the money supply to motivate banks into more lending, donors appear to have pulled back on direct mail giving. The M1 supply started 2008 with modest change compared to 2007, seeing an increase or decrease of less than half a percent during the first five months. Meanwhile, M2 was increasing each month by at least 5.5 percent compared to the same months of 2007. It wasn’t until the Federal Reserve sprang into action in late summer 2008 that the money supplies exploded. M1 crept up a few percentage points each month until September and October when it jumped by 6 percent and 7 percent, respectively, and skyrocketed in November and December by almost 12 percent and 17 percent, respectively. The best months for the groups in The NPT study appeared to be February and May (Catholic Relief Services and Food For the Poor) along with June (Catholic Relief Services). Mirroring the declining economy, direct mail revenue tailed off significantly for all groups in August, October and November. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) saw signs of optimism for 2008, with a 26percent boost in direct mail revenue for January, as compared to the same month in 2007. The optimism was short-lived. While February and March dropped off only slightly, about 2 percent each,April started a three-month stretch of double-digit declines: 17 percent, 25 percent and 10 percent. The slump made July look like a winner (only off 3 percent from July 2007) before the numbers followed the declining economy. “We had reason for optimism through May and June, but the downturn really started in August,” said Bruce Joyner, vice president of direct marketing at Bethesda, Md.-based CFF. A silver lining might be that while the number of gifts received had declined 5 percent from 2008 to 2007, the average gift grew by 3 percent. Overall, direct mail revenue was off by about 13 percent last year; fortunately for CFF it only makes up about 8 percent of overall income. The bulk of revenue comes from special events and walks. December is typically the month most influenced by seasonality at CFF, Joyner said, but even that was down 22 percent compared to 2007.Renewal and acquisition rates were fairly typical during 2008, however,“more alarming is the rate of decline of percentages from July through December than in the first part of the year,” he said. CFF’s fundraising is “pretty evenly dis- persed,” Joyner said. Mailing patterns haven’t changed much with acquisition mailings, typically about two million pieces, in each month but December. “We’re trying our best to mail a little smarter, our contact strategy being a little tighter, and trying to mail less pieces yet make the same amount of revenue,”Joyner said. “You really have to do that to continue to bring in new donors,” he said of maintaining acquisition levels. Most nonprofit direct mail programs, if not all, depend on donors older than 55, said Joyner, which he attributed to some of the direct mail drop-off.“We’re thinking that if they’re on a fixed income, they’ve seen a decline this year,” he said, though CFF has not adjusted 2009 revenue forecasts as a result. The story of 2008 was pretty good at Baltimore, Md.-based Catholic Relief Services (CRS) -- until the fourth quarter.Any double-digit jumps or drops would norMoney, page 6 We Help Nonprofits Lend A Helping Hand To Their Communities. Bayonne Family YMCA • Boys & Girls Club of Camden County • Camden Greenways, Inc. Schools The Morris Museum, Inc. Day • Uncommon School • C o m m e r c i a l i z a t i o n C e n t e r f o r I n n o v a t i v e Te c h n o l o g i e s ( C C I T ) Schools • Center for Aging, Inc. • St. • Philip's Academy Cooperative Business Assistance Corporation The Calais School How EDA financing helped United Methodist Homes (UMH) expand their facilities—seven times. Since 1999, United Methodist Homes has called on the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) to help meet their long-term capital needs for refurbishing existing facilities, constructing new facilities and purchasing medical equipment. Bond financing issued through the EDA has delivered lower rates than traditional debt instruments, a longer payback period, and the flexibility to use these funds for a variety of needs. Speak with an EDA financing expert to find out how your nonprofit organization can take advantage of our access to credit markets. “We have issued seven tax-exempt bonds through the EDA, which has given us the ability to rebuild most of our aging communities. The EDA staff was extremely responsive and continually kept us informed as to the status of the application process. Issuing tax-exempt bonds proved to be the most cost-efficient way for us to finance these projects.” —James Batten President, United Methodist Homes 866-534-7789 www.njeda.com For more information about doing business in New Jersey visit www.NewJerseyBusiness.gov NONPROTIME/021509 MARCH 1, 2009 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.nptimes.com 5 http://www.njeda.com http://www.njeda.com http://www.NewJerseyBusiness.gov http://www.nptimes.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 Buyers' Choice Where's All the Money? Stocks of Vendors Tracking Worse Than Indexes Contents Calendar Page 4 AFP Conference Map Spring Clean-Up NPT Fundraising Guide Financial Paradox Business Briefs NPT Jobs Resource Directory Advertiser Index The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - Stocks of Vendors Tracking Worse Than Indexes (Page 1) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - Stocks of Vendors Tracking Worse Than Indexes (Page 2) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - Calendar (Page 3) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - Page 4 (Page 4) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - Page 4 (Page 5) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - Page 4 (Page 6) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - Page 4 (Page 7) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - Page 4 (Page 8) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - Page 4 (Page 9) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - Page 4 (Page 10) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - AFP Conference Map (Page 11) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - AFP Conference Map (Page 12) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - AFP Conference Map (Page 13) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - AFP Conference Map (Page 14) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - Spring Clean-Up (Page 15) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - NPT Fundraising Guide (Page 16) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - Financial Paradox (Page 17) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - Business Briefs (Page 18) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - NPT Jobs (Page 19) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - Advertiser Index (Page 20) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - Advertiser Index (Page 21) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - Advertiser Index (Page 22) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - Advertiser Index (Page 23) The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - Advertiser Index (Page 24)
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