A recent survey of nonprofit executive directors revealed that half had seen their revenues increase last year. The report, released by the Bridgespan Group, also said that out of 102 EDs surveyed, 60% are actively seeking talent to hire, compared to 31% the previous year.

This is good news for nonprofits everywhere. While the survey sample is not a huge number, it does indicate that things are starting to look up for nonprofits after a few very tough years.

The survey reports:

• 32% of respondents said their organization faced funding cuts in 2010, compared to 80% in 2009
• Of these, only half experienced cuts greater than 10%; in 2009, 77% of funding cuts exceeded 10%
• Half of nonprofits responding said they had seen an increase in revenues over the past year
• Most of those experiencing growth saw increases of 10% of more (63%), while 29% experienced 20% increases or more

Nonprofits Try New Strategies in Challenging Economic Times
The nonprofits that experienced growth often implemented new strategies, including:

• 84% of higher-revenue nonprofits developed contingency plans
• 94% of increasing-revenue nonprofits increased efforts to accurately measure outcomes
• 59% of nonprofits with increased revenues nonprofits created a communications plan that addressed recession-related issues, compared to only 43% of declining-revenue organizations
• 22% of nonprofits that saw revenues increase participated in some form of collaboration with other nonprofits

It’s certainly good to report some positive news about nonprofit revenues. Not only has the rate of declining revenue slowed, the size of cuts have also decreased.

Tags: Charities and Recession, Nonprofit Best Practices

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