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The Philanthropic Giving Index (PGI) indicates good charitable giving prospects this holiday season, with a stable fundraising climate that's better than this time last year and six months ago. The latest index was released Tuesday by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

The PGI, similar to a Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) for charitable giving, includes three indexes on a scale from 0 to 100, based on a semiannual national survey of more than 152 nonprofit fundraising professionals. The Present Situation Index gauges the current giving environment. The Expectations Index assesses the climate for the next six months, and the overall PGI is an average of the current and future indexes. Higher scores indicate more positive or optimistic attitudes about the climate of fundraising.

The latest overall PGI was 88.8, an increase of 1.5 percent from both six months and one year ago. The Present Situation Index was 88.0, up 3 percent since the summer and 2.5 percent from this time last year. The Expectations Index remained virtually unchanged from six months and one year ago at 89.7. In the 10 years since the study began, the overall PGI has ranged from a low of 72.3 in summer 2003 to a high of 94.6 in December 1999.

Outside fundraising consultants, historically among the most positive respondents, were noticeably less optimistic than other fundraisers, lagging their peers by four to six points in each of the three indexes. Human services, public benefit, environment/animal and international nonprofit fundraisers were also notably less optimistic about the current and future climates, rating the Present Situation Index at 79.0, nine points lower than the average for all respondents.

"Prior research shows that human services nonprofits are among the first to see an increased demand for services when the economy slows," said Eugene R. Tempel, executive director of the Center on Philanthropy. "In those circumstances, such organizations often also face declining financial support from households, foundations and corporations. Even though the economy is not in a recession, uncertain economic conditions may be of particular concern for these organizations."

Survey participants are chosen to represent a cross-section of nonprofits nationwide in terms of geographic region, annual revenue size and type of organization. The survey was mailed to 409 nonprofit development executives and fundraising consultants, with 152 responses for an overall response rate of 38.8 percent.

Nearly half of those surveyed (48 percent) reported that the economy is having a negative effect on fundraising, compared to 28.3 percent who said its effect is positive. Almost 47 percent predicted the impact on fundraising would be negative in six months, with 28.9 percent saying it will be positive. More than 70 percent of consultants reported a negative impact and 29.2 percent saw a positive impact on fundraising currently.

In the latest survey, fundraisers also were asked about specific aspects of planned giving. The reported success of planned giving overall compared to other fundraising techniques has varied widely in past rounds of the PGI. In the December survey, it trended up slightly, but fundraisers noted significant increases in the success of certain planned giving instruments.

Since summer 2004, when the PGI first asked about planned giving tools, the percentage of fundraisers reporting success with donor-advised funds has grown from 32.5 percent to 52.8 percent today. The percentage of fundraisers reporting success with insurance policies grew from 21.1 percent to 29.4 percent during the same period, and the share of fundraisers reporting success with trusts increased from 48.6 percent to 57.2 percent during the same period. In both years, more than three-quarters of fundraisers said charitable bequests are the most successful planned giving instrument.

Nearly 60 percent of fundraisers indicated that between 1 and 5 percent of their organization's budget was spent on acquiring planned gifts. Another 15 percent of fundraisers said they spend between 6 and 15 percent of their budgets on acquiring planned gifts.
Almost half of all fundraisers (47 percent) reported no impact on their fundraising due to the federal IRA charitable rollover provision.
Public benefit, environment/animal, and international nonprofits reported statistically significantly less success with bequest commitments than their peers.
Overall, 39.7 percent of fundraisers reported receiving between five and 20 charitable bequests or notifications of intent to bequest in the last two years.
And, 38.1 percent received between five and 20 donor-advised funds, trusts, annuities, or insurance policies in the last two years.

This article is from NPT Instant Fundraising, a publication of The NonProfit Times.