Giving blooms in economic winter - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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Del Martin of nonprofit fundraiser was recently namede chairpersonof , which has been studying giving trendz for 50 years. "Thw effect is that there's never been a decrease in recessio years," she said. "There's been a rate increase. Givingb still goes up." Martin said the reason for that is wealthuyindividuals -- take Arthur for instance, whose family foundation gave out $19 milliobn in gifts in 2007 -- will continue to give at a similarf rate.
Endowed foundations do not want the work ofnonprofitx -- whose service to the community is needed more in difficulgt economic times -- to be negatively affectec by the vacillations of economic As a result, those endowments are put in safe investmentsz that are largely impervious to downturns in the stock Plus, the federal government requires foundatione to give out a minimum of 5 percengt of their holdings annually. In all, giving tendas to stay constant atbetween 1.2 percent and 2 percent of gros domestic product, according to Givingh USA statistics.
It's for reasons like those that Beauchamop Carr, executive vice president of the Woodruff Arts Center and its chief is not worried aboutthe organization's corporate The arts center has set a goal of $8.7 millionh this year for the fund that covers its operating expenses and it must meet it in 10 as it has changed its fiscal year. With only three monthss left, the arts center has raised a littlew more thanhalf ($4.
8 million) of its Because of the shortened year -- the timinvg is designed to align with the openinhg of the new Amphitheatrwe at Encore Park -- the arts center has receivef a number of one-time $215,000 from the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, $200,00p from Georgia Power Foundation, $100,000 apiece from and and $50,009 each from Deloitte, The Sara Gilesx Moore Foundation, and Carr said the leadership of Atlanta's corporated community is strong, thougb he admits to "sa little faith" in reaching the "I think in some cases we're beggingt a little bit harder and a littlew bit more persistently," he He expects that some "strong repeating that have not yet made donations still will.
"Wde haven't heard from any large ones that are in he said. "If one of those top donoras calls and gives us abad message, we mighyt miss our goal but that hasn't happened Like the Woodruff Arts Center, attracts major dollards and often is a first priority for That's why Susan Cruse, the university'z senior vice president for development and alumnio relations, thinks it will not suffer as much as what she callz "secondary philanthropic priorities." "Wer have people who care about what we she said. "We're a major research universit y that is going to be there for thelong haul.
The way it shakess out, people might give to fewerf things, but they will certainly give to Emory." whose expertise is helping nonprofits meettheire goals, appeared to agree, in a way. "Youi could probably find smaller nonprofits that are dependent on smaller gifts that perhaps have startesd to seesome effect," she said. Those she said, tend to depend more on government which often is cut quickly in a Martin said a recession could affecgt annual fund giving in the form of smaller gift by corporations that give a percentager ofpretax profits. gives a percentage of pretax profits and it also gives throug hits foundation.
Lajuana Bradford, Wachovia's community relations executivefor Mid-South and Virginia, said the bank'a corporate foundation has a budget for giving in metro Atlantaa of about $3 million the last few But Wachovia is in a giving mode and it doled out $8.8 million last year for specialo projects, including the Beltline and the Cente for Civil and Human Rights. Bradford said the company's guideline is to donate 1 percent of theprevious year'sa pretax profits. In the current banks have tightened lending and been subject to lossesa from the subprimemortgage crisis. Quarterl y earnings reports for banks havebeen ugly.
But perhaps following the counter-intuitive concepy that giving does not fall ina recession, says its donationds will continue to increase. "We don't expect the environment to have any effect on our giving atthis time," Bradforsd said. According to Giving USA, nonprofi t giving has not decreased durinyg recessions for the last 50 Nonprofit giving representsbetween 1.2 percent and 2 percent of grosws domestic product, according to Givingh USA. Wachovia Corp. generallyy uses 1 percent of theprevious year'es pretax profits as its guide for giving. The bank'ws budget is about $3 million for metrol Atlanta butgave $8.8 milliomn in 2007.
The Woodruff Arts Center has raisedf $4.8 million of its $8.7 million goal for its corporat campaign and hasreceived "challenge" funds totaling $815,000.