Pandemic impacts charitable giving

Dec. 4—HIGH POINT — Donations to North Carolina charities and nonprofits that use professional fundraisers dropped by more than $10 million during the pandemic, according to a new state report.

Licensed fundraising solicitors raised roughly $34 million from state residents between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021, according to the annual report from the N.C. Secretary of State Charitable Solicitation Licensing Division. That's $10.8 million less than was raised the year before, a nearly 32% drop.

About $26.6 million, or 78% of the total raised, went directly to charities, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall said in the report. That was down just 2.5 percentage points from last year's record high return of 80.53% to charities, the report said.

"North Carolina's giving public continued to be generous and wise in donations as charities worked hard to put those contributions to the most effective use, even while often having to change practices to protect public health," Marshall said.

National solicitation campaigns that included North Carolina also declined in the past year, Marshall said. Giving to multistate campaigns dropped by about $100 million, to nearly $1.04 billion. Charities received about $775.3 million of those funds.

Marshall cited the COVID-19 pandemic and the "extraordinary challenges of this past year" in explaining the downturns.

The report covers only part of the fundraising by nonprofits, hospital systems, colleges and universities, many of which do not use outside fundraising solicitors.

At High Point University, nearly $500 million in philanthropic investments have been made since 2005 without a formal campaign or third party, according to HPU President Nido Qubein. He credits that to continually growing support from alumni, parents and other university advocates.

"Thanks to HPU's national recognition, growing enrollment and increasing scholarship initiatives, the university has seen no decrease in philanthropic investments since the pandemic began," Qubein said.

The High Point Community Foundation, which also does not use professional fundraisers, experienced an exceptionally strong year in donations despite the ongoing pandemic, foundation President Paul Lessard said.

The pandemic actually may have helped the foundation raise money because community members saw how strategically it is dispersed, Lessard said. Within the first two weeks of the pandemic, the foundation directed more than $200,000 to High Point's basic needs, especially hard-hit food pantries. In mid-summer 2000, the foundation moved its grants program up from the fall and gave another $450,000 to local nonprofits who were key players in pandemic relief.

The United Way of Greater High Point, which also does not use licensed fundraising solicitors, has seen changes in charitable giving, but it began well before the pandemic, President Jane Liebscher said.

"United Way of Greater High Point's fundraising dollars do the most good for the most people in our community, but the annual campaign becomes more challenging every year," Liebscher said.

When Liebscher began working with the local United Way in 2006, 85% of its total annual fundraising campaign came from workplace campaigns, in which employers circulate pledge forms among employees. By 2020, 65% of its total came from workplace campaigns.

"This trend will continue as local stakeholders continue to change," Liebscher said. "Mergers and acquisitions are extremely hard on our fundraising efforts. When local companies are sold to entities who are not headquartered here, commitment to the community changes."

In the last five years, the number of individual donors to the United Way has dropped by 37%, Liebscher said. Part of this is attributed to businesses changing owners. Also, some larger organizations now allow employees to donate to any nonprofit of their choice at any point during the year.

The inability to have face-to-face meetings created new challenges, prompting the United Way to step up its virtual presence through virtual campaign rallies and continual Zoom, Team, Web-Ex and Skype meetings.

The United Way had a record-breaking year of giving from its Tocqueville Society, raising more than $1 million from 75 members who donate a minimum of $10,000 annually.

"We also saw many companies increase their corporate giving significantly to offset the decline in employee giving," Liebscher said, adding that despite the challenges, the community still stepped up during its 2020 and 2021 CANpaign drives, which only fell short of the 2019 drive by 7%.

Lessard said he believes the pandemic confirmed the fact that donors look for performance, transparency and trust when giving to nonprofits.

He said that the real heroes of the pandemic were frontline nonprofits such as Open Door Ministries, West End Ministries, the YMCA, YWCA, Helping Hands, D-Up and many others.

"I believe people give to organizations they trust, believe and can see have a proven track record," Lessard said. "COVID, like so many other challenges we face in life, gave us and these other nonprofits an opportunity to accomplish the mission we were created to fulfill. On a larger scale, I would also say that the pandemic has really highlighted the incredible importance of the front-line nonprofits who, like us, stayed open during the worst of the pandemic and took great risks to serve others."

cingram@hpenews.com — 336-888-3534 — @HPEcinde