The scarcity of financial resources in the nonprofit world over the past decade has caused many, if not most, institutions to become more rigorous in their strategic planning and more resolute in making difficult choices regarding institutional priorities. Because of extensive media coverage, donors and prospective donors are well aware that belt-tightening and reallocation of resources has become a fiscal reality on a macro level. These people want to know how these factors are impacting the mission and quality of the particular institutions they care most about. So they are looking for greater specificity when asked for financial support and more accountability and good stewardship after the gift has been made. In recent years the number of requests for private support has increased far more rapidly than has the philanthropic pie.
Prospective donors have more options to consider when distributing their philanthropic dollars.
They have, therefore, more opportunities to compare the quality of the requests from different nonprofit organizations. As a result, donors are more thorough in considering gift requests, more sophisticated in allocating their support, and more attentive to how their gifts are managed. During a recent feasibility study, a prospective donor whom I interviewed talked about two requests he was currently considering. One, the person's alma mater, had asked for a significant gift to support excellence in teaching. The other, a local agency, was seeking a similar dollar commitment to provide meals and temporary shelter for homeless persons in the community.