Nonprofit Excellence Program
Results of Fundraising Survey
The Lumpkin Family Foundation held two-day training workshops in 'Fundraising for Small Nonprofits' on both October 1-2 and November 13-14, 2003. A total of 87 staff and board members, representing 57 different organizations in Central Illinois, attended the sold out events. A brief survey was distributed at the workshop to better understand where organizations were in terms of their fundraising and training needs. Overall, 75% of organizations attending the two training workshops responded to the survey. The results of the survey are as follows:
- Attending nonprofits successfully raised an average of $178,000 (exclusive of government grants, contracts and program fees) during 2002. Twenty-six percent of these organizations raised less than $10,000.
- The sources of these funds raised in this group differed from national trends, with more resources being raised through special events (26%) and corporations and foundations (28%) than the national averages.
- About one-third of the nonprofits have had a capital campaign in the last 10 years.
- Less than half(48%) of Board members contribute regularly to the organizations on whose board they serve.
- 51% of Boards have a fundraising/development committee.
- Only 18% of organizations have a person wholly or partly dedicated to fundraising.
When asked what other training topics participants would like to see addressed, the top four (in order) were:
- Marketing and Communication
- Board Governance
- Grant Writing
- Human Resource and Volunteer Management
Thank you to everyone who took the time to fill out this survey.