Nonprofit Fundraising Jobs See Donations Grow

Those with nonprofit fundraising jobs are starting to see an influx of donations. Visit http://jobs.heart.org to learn more.

A recent report from the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund found that more people are donating money this year. Incoming donations to the organization increased by 25 percent between Q1 2010 and Q1 2011, marking the highest first quarter contribution level in the organization's history.

Fidelity is an independent public charity that helps donors support more than 140,000 nonprofit organizations with more than $11 billion in grants. The organization is the largest donor-advised charity and one of the largest public charities in the nation.
The report further found that:

• New charitable donations came in at $269 million during Q1 2011.
• Outgoing grants reached $293 million, an 8 percent increase from Q1 of last year.
• Incoming donations accounted for $1.6 billion during 2010, a 42 percent increase from 2009.
• 2011 marks the sixth year in a row that Fidelity has received more than $1 billion in donations.

"We are seeing a significant increase in donors leveraging a broader spectrum of their assets, such as restricted stock and privately held securities, for charitable purposes," Sarah Libbey, president of the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, said. "This reflects continued strength in the mergers and acquisitions market, and also is a sign of more strategic charitable planning on the part of donors and their advisors.

"This is an exciting trend, as these types of assets have powerful tax advantages and donating them to a donor-advised fund like the Gift Fund makes the process easy and typically more financially advantageous for the receiving charities," she added.