The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2009 - (Page 6) MONEY Continued from page 5 mally raise an eyebrow for Jean Simmons, director of annual giving.There were eight months during 2008 that had such peaks and valleys, with an even split between positive and negative as compared to the same months in 2007. Response rates were “a little scary,”Simmons said, but revenue tracked pretty well overall while CRS aimed to improve its year-end e-philanthropy efforts to make up any gaps.“Everyone’s pulling out all the stops,” she said. The declines near year’s end were “something we typically don’t see,” Simmons said, with the fourth quarter down more than 15 percent compared to Q4 2007. October and November were “holding strong,” she said, but not quite what they had been the previous year, down 9 and 21 percent, respectively. CRS lowered its goal by 7 percent for Fiscal Year 2009, according to Simmons. Food For the Poor (FFP) had two months of double-digit increases (February and May) last year. In the second half of the year, however, there were four months of double-digit decreases, punctuated by a 20-percent drop in August, 15 percent in October and 14 percent in November before a turnaround in December. That was not an uncommon story for charities last year. The Target Analytics ‘‘ Everyone’s pulling out all the stops. --Jean Simmons Index of National Fundraising Performance indicated a median decline of 1.1 percent from the first three quarters of 2007 compared to the first three quarters of last year. From the first half of 2007 to the same period in 2008, revenue dropped 2.4 percent. The Target Index reports on direct marketing giving only. Direct mail is the dominant revenue source for most organizations but Web, telemarketing, canvassing, and other gifts considered to be direct marketing are also included. While nonprofits might not be getting as many checks in the mail from donors, it might be a better time to hit up major donors for bequests rather than a big outright gift since they’re reluctant to part with their money in the current environment.“Since a donor doesn’t have to part with the asset today, they’re less affected in their decision-making by what is happening financially now,” said Phyllis Freedman, founder of SmartGiving, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm. Likewise, she said, charitable gift annuities might be attractive in this market as well, and so the money supply levels might not have the same impact on planned giving in general. NATIONAL CASH FLOW The money supply reached levels not seen in years, with remarkable jumps dur- ing 2008. From 2005 through 2007, the M2 supply has month-over-month increases of anywhere from 4.5 percent to more than 5.5 percent. During 2008, month-over-month increases exceeded 6 percent, surpassing 7 percent in October and November. Even when seasonally adjusted, M2 increased by 9.5 percent in December after eclipsing 1 percent in just three months of 2008. Tucker Adams, president of the Adams Group, a regional economics consulting firm in Colorado Springs, Colo., said the Federal Reserve has taken the complete opposite strategy that it did during the 1930s. At that time, the Fed was fairly new and faced with its first big test, she said, adding that it didn’t make much of an effort to do anything. The money supply fell about 30 percent, a third of banks failed, and the economy imploded.“Now they’ve taken absolutely the other action,”Adams said, with the Fed loaning at discount windows,creating new money and cutting interest rates. The money supply is increasing because the Federal Reserve is pouring liquidity into the economy, according to Adams, including cutting the prime rate, the interest banks charge each other for overnight transactions, to 0.25 percent. “Everything else that may have applied in other years is just out the window,” she Money, page 10 6 MARCH 1, 2009 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.nptimes.com http://www.causemarketingforum.com http://FundraisingInfo.com http://www.fundraisinginfo.com http://www.causemarketingforum.com 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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