Will Nonprofit Donors Give in this Economy?

Nonprofit GrowthDevelopment
Written By Sherry Quam Taylor
Image of a financial chart showing gains or losses, representing how most sophisticated investors and investment-level donors are in the stock market for the long-game.

Too many fundraisers use “the stock market” as an excuse NOT to ask donors for money. “We can’t ask in this economy!” . . .

 

Well…Let’s look at that from another perspective. 

 

Since 2009, here are the S&P 500 returns…

2009: 🟢 +22.57%

2010: 🟢 +13.24%

2011: 🟢 +0.97%

2012: 🟢 +14.23%

2013: 🟢 +29.08%

2014: 🟢 +14.69%

2015: 🟢 +1.40%

2016: 🟢 +13.67%

2017: 🟢 +20.80%

2018: 🔴 -5.18%

2019: 🟢 +31.32%

2020: 🟢 +17.40%

2021: 🟢 +30.63%

2022: 🔴 -18.63%

2023: 🟢 +26.79%

2024: 🟢 +25.73%

2025: 🟢 +18.14%

2026: 🟢 +8.12% YTD

 

Yes, that's your donor's diversified stock portfolio INCREASING 16 out of the last 18 years!

 

Most sophisticated investors and investment-level donors are in the stock market for the long-game.

 

Fundraiser: Your relationship with them should reflect this.

 

Stop treating this type of donor (often traditional “major-donor”) as an urgent, “help me hit this deadline” donor. This type of donor? It’s that tortoise type of fundraising I speak so often about. It’s slow and steady. It’s a long-game also.

 

Last thing I’ll say about this:

If this list of numbers above doesn’t mean anything to you and your job involves building relationships with mid- and major-level donors, it’s time to educate yourself on how to speak this language. Because it’s their language and it’s going to be extra hard to build that relationship or discuss their wealth. But, you can do this. It's not as complex as many think. 

Whenever you’re ready, here are THREE things you can do next:

👣 Follow me on LinkedIn where I share insider info daily — the same lessons I teach my clients about attracting larger gen-ops dollars and diversifying revenue.

🍎 Grab FREE Guides + White Papers — download robust resources you can use to push against the sector’s misconceptions, equip your board, and shift your team into High-ROI fundraising.

📈 Work with me to diversify revenue & secure the gen-ops gifts you need to grow. If you’re a business-minded nonprofit CEO with big growth plans but need to make charitable revenue from investment-level donors a bigger part of your budget, you can apply to work with me here.

Sherry Quam Taylor

Sherry Quam Taylor works with business-minded Nonprofit CEOs whose Strategic Plans require expansive budgets and larger amounts of general-operating revenue for growth. To become investment-level ready, Sherry helps leaders see their revenue potential and helps them see what may be blocking donors from giving in this way. Sherry’s clients know how to attract larger donors by solving the funding challenges at the root of the issue.

As a result of learning her methodology, Sherry’s clients become sustainable, diversify revenue, and know how to add significant amounts gen-ops revenue to their budgets. But mostly, their development departments and board have transformed into high-ROI revenue generators – aligning their hours with relational dollars and set free from the limitations of transactional fundraising.

Sherry attributes the success of her business to her passion for modeling radical confidence to the future CEOs in her house - her two college-aged daughters.

https://www.QuamTaylor.com
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