Perfect storm of increased need and decreased giving hits area nonprofits

This year’s Report Card on Charitable Giving is different than in past years. In every report prior to this one, we surveyed the same small bellwether group of organizations. For this year’s report, we surveyed a larger number of nonprofits in the region to get a broader picture of what local nonprofits are experiencing. We e-mailed surveys to 391 local nonprofits and received completed responses from 188 organizations for a response rate of 48 percent. Over half (51 percent) of the organizations surveyed were from the human services sector, while 18 percent were arts and culture organizations, 17 percent were education organizations, 10 percent were health organizations, and three percent were in the environment sector. Three respondents were funding organizations. Eighty percent of the 188 responding organizations service Milwaukee County.

Major findings:

• Sixty-eight percent of organizations report that the U.S. economic downturn has caused giving to their organizations to be less generous than usual. Only seven percent feel that the downturn has caused giving to be more generous.


• Compared to the first half of 2008, organizations report decreases in total revenue, revenue from donations, and overall staffing. However, they also report increases in actual fundraising efforts.


• Most organizations say they have had to cut costs due to budget constraints (83 percent). Forty-three percent have frozen salaries, 29 percent have frozen new hires, 24 percent have laid off staff and reduced benefits, 13 percent have reduced salaries, and nine percent have eliminated benefits.


• Of the organizations that offer direct services to clients, 62 percent report the demand for their services is increasing, while seven percent report the demand is decreasing. Furthermore, 43 percent of these organizations say that the charitable donations designated to meet the demand for these services are decreasing, while 14 percent say they are increasing.


• Even in these hard times, 44 percent of organizations feel very confident that they can meet the demand for services in 2009 and 45 percent feel somewhat confident. Furthermore, 26 percent of organizations anticipate that the likelihood of their organization’s long-term sustainability is very high, 33 percent report a high likelihood of sustainability, and 34 percent a moderate likelihood.

The report was commissioned by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation with sponsorships from Donors Forum of Wisconsin, The Faye McBeath Foundation and United Way of Greater Milwaukee.

Charitable Giving Increases in Milwaukee

For the 11th annual Report Card on Charitable Giving, the Forum provides greater detail on contributions to Greater Milwaukee bellwether nonprofits over a longer period than in the past. Instead of looking at changes in six sectors from year to year, the printed report focuses on three sectors - education, health, and arts & culture - since 2001. We believe this comprehensive look offers donors and organizations more helpful information.

(The other three sectors - environment, funding organizations, and human services - still are covered, but in the Web version only, which can be accessed through the link above.)

Contributions to the 59 bellwethers in 2006 totaled $284.9 million, an increase of 8% over 2005. Since 1992, the first year of Forum data, total contributions increased 143%. Contributions grew by about $65 million since 2001.

Other key findings:

• Corporate giving has been a major factor in the growth, increasing over 68% since 2001.


• Individual giving has increased more than 27% since 2001.


• Foundation contributions totaled $41.6 million in 2006, a slight decrease from 2005. Since 2001, foundation giving has decreased 18.7%.


• The education sector had the largest one-year increase in total giving among all sectors,
  increasing $15.5 million, or 42.3%, to $52.1 million in 2006.


• Contributions to bellwether organizations in the environment sector continue to decline. From 2005 to 2006, gifts were down almost 11%, to $1.4 million. Since 2001, contributions have fallen 65.5%.


• Thirty-five of the 59 bellwether organizations saw an increase in contributions from 2005 to 2006. Since 2001, 37 organizations saw increases.

The 11th Annual Report Card on Charitable Giving is published by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, with sponsorships by Donors Forum of Wisconsin, The Faye McBeath Foundation, and United Way of Greater Milwaukee. Research for the report is completed by the Public Policy Forum.

Taxing work: How does your municipality rank?

This year, for the first time, the Public Policy Forum has created a poster ranking all 147 municipalities in southeastern Wisconsin on the basis of the following information: property values, per capita property value, 5 year change in property values, gross tax levy*, 5 year change in the tax levy, and net tax rate**.

Of the ten municipalities with the highest tax rates in southeastern Wisconsin, all but two - the villages of Darien and Sharon in Walworth County - were located in Milwaukee County. The village of West Milwaukee (Milwaukee County) topped the list with a net tax rate of $25.55 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

Not surprisingly the city of Milwaukee had the largest overall tax base (or property value) in the region. But, surprisingly, the city of Brookfield (Waukesha County) came in second, larger than even the cities of Kenosha (Kenosha County), which was third, and Racine (Racine County), which was 10th! The largest property value increase in the region occurred in the village of Merton (Waukesha County), where it more than doubled over the last five years.

Southeastern Wisconsin had $178 billion in property value in 2006, a 44% increase from five years ago. Its per-capita property value was $89,844. The region’s gross tax levy in 2007 was $3 billion, an increase of 18% from five years ago, and the net tax rate was $17.52.

The poster, Southeastern Wisconsin Property Taxes 2007, was funded by Cook & Franke S.C., Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc., and the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors, and was done as a part of the Forum’s property values and property tax reports.

*Gross tax levy is the amount of money that each taxing jurisdiction budgets to receive from property taxes.
**Net tax rate is determined by dividing the amount of the gross tax levy minus the state tax credits by the total equalized value.