Give them some slack, they might be hurting also.

Today, the Huffington Post wrote an article, Rich Americans Are Giving Less, Thanks to Recession, which explored how the rich are giving less money.  However, it also found that over 98% of the wealthy are still giving money back.  Why is it not fair for these wealthy individuals to cut back on their donations but it is okay for the average American to cut their donations?

Yes, many nonprofits would not be able to survive if the wealthy did not support them but these organizations would also hurt if the the small $50-$100 donations stopped coming in.  We cannot have this expectation that the wealthy are going to provide 100% backing for these organizations and we should not be surprised when a donor pulls money.  According to the article, the wealthy stopped giving money to certain organizations because “that the particular charity solicited money too frequently or asked for inappropriate amount.”

It is not fair for nonprofit organizations to rely so heavily on the wealthy just as it is not okay to rely on grants as a crutch.

Nonprofit organizations need to start realizing that when times are tight, we cannot and should not expect the donations which came when times were good to continue at their same rate.  We ask for more when we are home tightening our own financial belts and even cutting our own donations.

The times are tight and we all need to work together to make things work.