Staff Report
Published Feb. 5, 2013

Charitable giving in the U.S. remained relatively flat last year, up 2% compared with 2011, according to Blackbaud’s Charitable Giving Report.

Small nonprofits reported the largest increases in overall funding, and online giving grew by 11%, the report said. 

“2012 continued to show signs of a slow recovery for overall fundraising,” said Steve MacLaughlin, co-author of the report and director of Blackbaud’s Idea Lab. “Looking ahead, overall giving is not likely to increase significantly until there is sustained growth in new donors, nonprofits rebuild their multiyear donor base and overall donor retention improves.”

While online giving grew year-over-year, it made up only 7% of total giving in 2012.

Small nonprofits, with fundraising totals of less than $1 million, grew their fundraising by 7.3%. Medium nonprofits, with fundraising totals between $1 million and $10 million, grew their fundraising by 2.7%, while large nonprofits saw growth in fundraising of 0.3%

Faith-based organizations saw fundraising increases of 6.1% and education institutions also saw growth, up 1.9%. These two subgroups accounted for 45% of the charitable giving in the nation.

Other sectors to see growth in fundraising included arts and culture, environmental and animal welfare nonprofit organizations.

In online giving, medium-sized nonprofits grew their fundraising by 14.3%, small nonprofits grew by 11.8% and large nonprofits grew online fundraising by 7.2%.

The Charitable Giving Report uses data from Blackbaud’s index, which tracks $8 billion in U.S. charitable giving on a monthly basis.

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