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Well, here we are – kicking off 2022 feeling uncertain about the world around us and the ongoing impact of the pandemic. Amidst this uncertainty, we look ahead with hope for a healthy and prosperous new year for those who share their generosity and those who receive. For those of us who have the privilege of working with both those who give and those who receive, here are a few trends to watch for in 2022.

1. Leadership gifts will continue to drive giving. In the most recent 2021 Bank of America Study of Philanthropy: Charitable Giving by Affluent Households, 26% of affluent individuals reported increasing their giving in response to the pandemic to help with direct services to those in need. In addition, the majority of households reported no change in their charitable giving with 15.5% indicating that their giving increased and 21.5% saying they decreased their giving. Looking ahead, while we cannot predict future giving, 74% of affluent households indicated they would not change their long-term philanthropic priorities, 20% expect their charitable giving to be more directed to specific issues, while 5% expect to be less restrictive in their giving. More affluent households created a charitable provision in their will (13% in 2017 vs. 17% in 2020) and more utilized a donor advised fund (5% in 2013 vs. 7% in 2018).

Now more than ever due to the pandemic, nonprofits are faced with many questions about how to adapt and revise their services and extend their outreach to donors and constituents.

Taking the time to solicit feedback from stakeholders can help your organization be thoughtful and strategic as you make these decisions. This feedback can:

• Help take the guesswork out of decision-making.
• Impact your strategies for current and potential clients, audience members, program participants, donors, and partners.
• Help you answer questions, understand real and perceived barriers, hear from new and underrepresented voices, and hone efforts around philanthropic support, services, inclusion, perceptions, and brand messaging and communications.

Life is full of opportunities and challenges, and we certainly faced our share in 2020. However, not everything we’ve gone through in the last year is negative. There are some lessons learned we may want to keep – opportunities to capitalize on in the future. It is important to learn from each challenge so you can prepare, mitigate, and more easily turn the next challenge into an opportunity. That’s called resiliency. It sounds easy—but let’s be honest: it isn’t.

Resiliency is the ability to recover from a setback, adapt to new challenges, and keep going in the face of adversity. In a nonprofit, as a staff or volunteer leader, one of the best tools to foster resiliency no matter what is thrown at your organization—internally or externally—is a strategic plan, which:

• provides a road map to lead your organization from where you are now to where you would like to be in the future;
• sets priorities and focuses your organization’s resources; and
• establishes measurable goals and a template to evaluate progress and adapt to a changing environment.

On a recent JGA webinar, I shared six tips to help you create a resilient organization by building resiliency into your strategic planning.

“Anyone who has been involved in philanthropy, either as a donor, volunteer, or development professional, knows the joy that comes from giving generously or serving as an intermediary to a generous gift.” – Daniel A. Schipp, Senior Consultant, JGA

Since March 2020, our motto at JGA has been “generosity is not cancelled.” So many things in our lives have been cancelled due to the pandemic, but generosity is not one of them. Donors have not stopped sharing their gifts of time, talent, and treasure. We have seen this generosity in support of campaigns, days of giving, and ongoing operations, as well as a continued commitment to volunteerism – although the format has changed in a virtual world.

What does this mean for 2021? As you look toward continuing to raise philanthropic support for your mission in 2021, what will you do to set the stage for generosity to continue?

Building a systematic major gifts program can have a dramatic impact on your fundraising ROI (Return on Investment). Establishing a major gifts program that is systematic involves creating a purposeful, organized, and ongoing program for identifying and cultivating relationships with donors that leads to solicitation and stewardship of major gifts.

A successful major gifts program also entails focusing your efforts on those prospects who are likely to make the largest financial impact on your organization. A sharper focus on your top prospects will allow you to better steward your institution’s resources and work more effectively and efficiently.

We believe success in securing major gifts is so important for nonprofits, that Johnson, Grossnickle and Associates (JGA) partnered with the Chronicle of Philanthropy to provide a curated collection of Chronicle articles and JGA insights on major gift fundraising.

Nonprofit boards that include a higher percentage of women tend to have board members who participate more in fundraising and advocacy. Members of these boards also tend to be more involved in the board’s work, new research released today shows. 

These findings are just two of a number of results from the study, The Impact of Diversity: Understanding How Nonprofit Board Diversity Affects Philanthropy, Leadership, and Board Engagement, which can help board members and nonprofits strengthen their boards through diversity. The research was conducted by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI in partnership with Johnson, Grossnickle and Associates and BoardSource. 

After 19 years of consulting, the feasibility study process is still the most rewarding work that I do at JGA. We are honored that so many esteemed nonprofit organizations trust JGA to step into key donor relationships and assist in strengthening donor bonds that advance their missions.