Significantly more nonprofit organizations in the United States and Canada met their fund-raising goals last year than a year earlier, according to a survey by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative.
Three-quarters of the 1,222 nonprofits that participated in the survey met fundraising goals in 2017, a significant increase over the 68 percent that met goals the previous year, according to the organization, which is based in New Orleans and collects and analyzes data on nonprofit organizations. The percentage meeting their goals has gone up each year since the survey began in 2010.
Sixty-three percent of the nonprofits raised more money last year than in 2016, the survey said.
Organizations that were most likely to reach their goals were colleges and universities, with 85 percent succeeding in raising the planned amount. The least likely to reach goals were charities in the public society benefit subsector, which includes consolidated fundraising activities such as United Way, Jewish federations and community foundations, and groups that work on societal issues such as civic engagement, civil rights or community and economic development issues, the survey showed.
Among public society benefit organizations, 62 percent met fundraising targets. Other types of organizations, such as those working in arts, health, human services, or religion, fell between the high of 83 percent and the low of 62 percent.
Sixty-two percent of organizers of nonprofits in the United States feel the tax law changes will cause donations to decline or remain neutral this year. Only 10 percent said the changes would give a boost to fundraising.
In a separate, quarterly report on nonprofits issued by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, also based in New Orleans, nonprofits reported an overall increase in giving of 4 percent for the fourth quarter of 2017 over the fourth quarter of 2016. Earlier quarterly reports for 2017 had shown slight declines in giving over the same quarters for 2016.
The number of donations of $1,000 or more in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to the same time period in 2016, were up 47 percent, the survey showed.
More research will be required to determine how much of this increase in large donors was due to the pending tax law changes and how much was caused by good stock market returns, the association said.