Donors plan to give the same or less this year

Since my client for my research class wants to recruit younger donors, I thought it might be interesting to look at this article by Raymund Flandez about how much current donors plan to donate next year:

http://philanthropy.com/article/Donors-Plan-to-Give-the-Same/124780/

The poll found that most donors plan to give either the same amount of money they currently give or less next year. It also found that confidence levels among donors to all types of charities had dropped. Donors cited the economy and unexpected personal expenses as their main reasons for not increasing donations.

Even though the recession has officially ended, it will take time for the economy to fully recover. Most donors predict that it will take about two years. It will also take time for individuals' bank accounts to recover, so it seems logical that charitable donations will be slow to increase. This puts exrta pressure on non-profit organizations to increase donor confidence.

Even though the article doesn't mention anything about whether or not people who don't donate money plan to start this year, this article makes me think a lot about my client for my PR Research class, the Church Health Center. If the majority of current donors don't plan to give more, it's unlikely that most non-donors will start giving. It makes me wonder if the Church Health Center will be able to recruit the new young donors it wants.

This whole article doesn't make me very optimistic, but I'm sure if the right tactics are used, any charity can increase donor confidence and donations, even in the aftermath of a recession.