Blackbaud is an international company providing software to the NFP sector. One of its products, Raiser’s Edge, is a database used by many NFP organisations in New Zealand, including the Baptist Union.

Blackbaud undertakes an annual online survey of NFPs, to gauge levels of optimism in the sector and to report on key management strategies that NFP leaders are using. While not necessarily statistically representative of NFPs in each country that participated, the results in the 2011 survey provide a useful benchmark due to the large number of participants (2023 people).

You can read the full executive summary for yourself, but the following are some items of interest about what NZ participants envisage will happen in the NFP sector in 2012:

• 48% believe charitable donations will increase in 2012. (35% believe they will stay the same, and 18% think they will decrease.)
• 66% expect total expenditure to rise.
• 75% believe they will see a greater demand for their services.
• 50% expect their staffing levels will remain the same, but 38% believe they will increase staffing.

 Another point of interest is that more than half of the NZ organisations surveyed say they raise funds online. Only 13% claim they receive no funding from website donations. Events, direct mail, email to current donors, and social networking were the four top methods used to drive online donations.