An intriguing topic and very interesting discussion thus far regarding
possible explanations.

I do believe there is probably an element of everything discussed thus far.

I wish it wasn’t true, but money seems to drive much of our behavior in our
world today. When purchasing power shrinks, it impacts everything.

Having said that, the mindsets and overriding emotional state of the world
also seems to be in an agitated state. Fear, anxiety, anger, division, and
the like are not the proper ingredients for charitable giving (some of this
resulting from the economic factors, but there is far more contributing to
it).

I might throw in yet another element impacting it, the way in which tax
deductions are handled. There was a shift to higher standard deductions,
which removed quite a bit of the itemized deductions that occurred prior. So
now the tax deduction “advantage” that is marketed through charitable giving
really has little impact. This of course impacts the bigger pool of smaller
donors out there. Now, this has also been in place for a few years now, so
whether it has a true impact or not could be debated for sure. I just think
there is a delayed response to that element as well.

This discussion comes at a time where I am trying to make decisions to move
forward with a development project. I am currently working on a sustainable
and transparent giving app that I think adds a bit more of the “relational”
experience, as opposed to “transactional” component that has been discussed
in the group. Facilitating emotional connection through storytelling,
transparency of fund flow, fun incentives that make those participating
bigger philanthropists than they might otherwise be, and creates a community
of like-minded supporters of youth mental health & well-being. I would love
to find ten or fifteen individuals in this group that might be interested in
providing valuable feedback/advice/comments. If interested, please feel free
to reach back to me personally and we can discuss further.

Otherwise, I look forward to reading the additional thoughts and comments
on this topic of shrinking charitable giving.

Hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend!

Ken

Ken Hunt

KH Impact Advisors

Advisor to Founders & CEOs doing meaningful work in the world

Board of Directors – Chair –  <https://mindfulnessfirst.org/> Mindfulness
First

Scottsdale, AZ

 <https://www.linkedin.com/in/huntken/> LinkedIn

From: GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org
<GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org>
Sent: Friday, July 7, 2023 11:35 AM
To: GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org
Subject: Re: GGS Community Listserv: July Discussion Prompt

Thanks, Beth, for kicking off such an interesting discussion! I appreciate
the various takes on this topic and want to share what we're doing at
Every.org. The decline in the number of individual donors is part of a
larger story, which also includes low retention rates, astronomical burnout
rates of development staff members, and decreasing trust in nonprofits.I
believe that this is the result of decades of transactional approaches to
fundraising that tends to preference org needs over donor needs and
interests. Of course, orgs are habitually under-resourced, no question about
that, but we need to move to a new chapter in fundraising (which Beth and I
have been writing about for a while) that focuses on relational rather than
transactional approaches. We are beginning to experiment at Every.org using
AI to customize donors' experiences and reduce the administrative burden for
orgs. Our hope is by creating a more joyful and meaningful donor experience,
we can increase donor retention rates and reduce the enormous fundraising
pressure on nonprofits.

Allison

On Fri, Jul 7, 2023 at 1:45 PM Jane Wales - Jane.Wales at
aspeninstitute.org <http://aspeninstitute.org>  (via GreaterGivingSummit
list) <GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org
<mailto:GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org> > wrote:



The answer is that we don't have all the data we need yet, but that #Giving
Tuesday, Paypal and others are leading an effort to build same. And the
Generosity Commission Report @Generositycomm will point to that collective
effort as a key benefit to and priority for a field. While a snapshot of
today is important and get-able, the harder problem may be the lack of
historical data on giving of time or treasure in ways that are unmediated by
nonprofits. It would help us demonstrate whether direct giving and
volunteering are on the rise, experiencing a bump, or simply holding steady
...and whether funds that would otherwise go to NGOs are being diverted.
Having said that, #GivingTuesday has some evidence that increased direct
giving has not been at the expense of giving to nonprofits, but additive. As
a field we will all benefit from the work of GT CEO Asha Curran
@radiofreeasha, Woodrow Rosenbaum @withwoodrow and others.

  _____

From: GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org
<mailto:GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org>
<GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org
<mailto:GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org> > on behalf of Woodrow
Rosenbaum - woodrow at givingtuesday.org <http://givingtuesday.org>  (via
GreaterGivingSummit list) <GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org
<mailto:GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org> >
Sent: Friday, July 7, 2023 8:15 AM
To: Greater Giving Summit Listserve
<GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org
<mailto:GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org> >
Subject: Re: GGS Community Listserv: July Discussion Prompt

The conversations we've been having this year about strategies to mitigate
the decline in charitable donations center around the urgent need to
diversify the donor base and the opportunities and obstacles to that. A
number of factors have contributed to an over-reliance on large donors and
now that we're seeing that pool shrinking, the sector is left less
resilient. That said, we don't think this is inevitable - it just means we
need to act now to get more eggs into more baskets.

Woodrow

  _____

From: GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org
<mailto:GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org>
<GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org
<mailto:GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org> > on behalf of Beth
Kanter <beth.kanter@gmail.com <mailto:beth.kanter@gmail.com> >
Sent: Thursday, July 6, 2023 12:48 PM
To: Greater Giving Summit Listserve
<GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org
<mailto:GreaterGivingSummit@list.gatesfoundation.org> >
Subject: GGS Community Listserv: July Discussion Prompt

Hello everyone,

The prompt for July is:

Everyone is likely aware of the news
<https://thenonprofittimes.com/npt_articles/u-s-philanthropy-plummeted-17-bi
llion-as-donors-disappeared/>  that giving is down according to the most
recent Giving USA 2023 report released last month by the team at Indiana
University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University.  How
is this research trend shaping your strategy going forward?

Please do share your thoughts by replying to this thread.

Beth Kanter

GGS Listserv Community Manager