Program funding, financial support and the willingness of community partners to continue participation are the top three concerns of senior leaders at nonprofits.
They have reason for concern. Leadership teams across the nation responding to a study by accounting and consulting firm UHY in New York City, said levels of funding have largely stayed the same or decreased during the past 12 months. In areas that saw decreases in funding, organizations saw the largest reduction from individual contributions.
UHY sampled participants within nonprofit organizations in five sectors with annual revenues ranging from less than $250,000 to more than $10 million. Data was collected in arts and culture, nonprofit healthcare, trade/member/professional associations, education, and social service/community services. Those answering were CEO or executive director, finance executive or board member of development/fundraising.
Managers at nonprofits responding are constantly reviewing strategies and attempting to improve. During the past 12 months, respondents reported that they have attempted to innovate or revitalize service lines, alter mission statements, and target new populations.
When it came to the top three concerns, program funding made the list of 73.6% of respondents, followed by financial support at 69.8% and willingness of community partners to continue to participate at 31.5%.
Funding and volunteer support seemed to be tied together, according to authors compiling data for the report. These two topics go hand-in-hand as a lot of nonprofit managers rely on volunteer support to operate, which would include fundraising campaigns, planning events, or even keeping their target audience informed.
When it came to funding level for the past 12 months, responses varied widely, although more than three-quarters (76.2%) indicated that their funding levels have remained constant or declined. It was 23.8% reporting an increase, 34.9% reporting a decrease and 41.3% reporting no change. This could be an indication of which organizations will be more heavily impacted by a recession, according to the report’s authors.
For example, the 23.8% increase for 2023 is down significantly from the 40% during 2022. The 34.9% decrease is up from 22% in 2022 and no change was 41.3%, up from 34% when asked during 2022.
When it came to where the funding was lost, 29% said from individuals, 19.1% from corporate giving and 14.5% from grants, the data showed. Roughly 37% reported no loss of funding.
Remarkably, with all the talk of ChatGPT, artificial intelligence and cloud computing, technology limitations ranked dead last on the list of managers’ concerns. The authors did not hypothesize whether that is because leadership teams are fully utilizing all technology available or because it just is not on their radar.
To see the full 16-page report, UHY Not-For-Profit Trends report 2023, go to … https://uhy-us.com/media/6521/nfp-survey-2023-interactive-final.pdf
