The Wall Street Journal reports on a recent PNC study of major donors, showing that many still “feel an obligation to give back to their community”  and through non-profits.  That’s unchanged over the last few years and is good news in this tough economy.

However, those fine sentiments aren’t translating into the same gifts they might have just a few years ago.

The survey found that among those with $5 million or more, less than 1% made gifts of $1 million or more last year. That is down from 15% in 2007. Instead, more of them are making smaller gifts. Nearly a third made gifts of $25,000 to $100,000, compared with 18% giving at that level in 2007.

That drives home once again how important an individual giving program is — acquiring and cultivating lower-level donors.  Not only are those donors less inclined to decrease their gifts during a down economy ($50 isn’t $500,000 after all) thereby providing a solid backbone to any giving program, but they are also the group from which future major donors, planned givers and event attendees will come — replacing the current donors as they fall off for any of many reasons.

Also interesting are the commenters, who back-up one of the assertions of the PNC report; that donors are now more “mission-driven” and want to “know that [their] money is being efficiently spent.”  Also, one questions whether the Federal government’s new tax policies on donations will result in a decrease in giving.  Something we’ve asked about here before.

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