More Nonprofits Met Fundraising Targets in 2017, Report Finds

Three-quarters of nonprofit organizations in the United States met their fundraising goals for 2017, while 21 percent are concerned that individual giving is likely to fall as a result of tax legislation passed in December, a report from the Nonprofit Research Collaborative finds.
Based on an online survey of 1,222 charities, the report, Winter 2018 Nonprofit Fundraising Study: Covering Charitable Receipts at Nonprofit Charitable Organizations in the United States and Canada in 2017, found that 75 percent of U.S. survey respondents met their fundraising goals for 2017, the highest percentage since NRC launched the annual survey in 2010. The survey also found that 63 percent raised more than they had in the previous year, with only 58 percent of respondents reporting increases in fundraising revenue in 2016.
In terms of issue areas, higher education institutions were the most likely to say they had reached their goals, with 85 percent reporting they had raised the amount they had hoped to, while public-society benefit organizations were the least likely, with only 62 percent reporting that they had met their targets. Success percentages for organizations in other categories ranged from 62 percent to 83 percent.