Funding What Matters
By Karen Kahle, CGC Executive Director
The holiday season is in full swing. It’s also the year-end giving season, the time of year that highlights the important contribution that nonprofits like the Civic Garden Center make to the health and vitality of a community.
Nonprofits in American Society
Charitable nonprofits embody the best of America. Throughout our nation’s history, people have come together through nonprofits to pursue common goals. As a natural part of that process, people engage with each other, learn more about their community’s strengths and challenges, and develop their skills in shared problem-solving. Nonprofits provide a way for people to work together for the common good, transforming shared beliefs and hopes into action. They give shape to our boldest dreams, highest ideals and noblest causes.
Nonprofits engage in an astonishing array of activities. Every person in the United States benefits from the work of nonprofits in one way or another, whether they realize it or not. America’s 1.3 million charitable nonprofits feed, heal, shelter, educate, inspire, enlighten and nurture people of every age, gender, race and socioeconomic status. They foster civic engagement and leadership, drive economic growth, and strengthen the fabric of our communities—every single day.
The Challenge of Funding
But most nonprofits face a big challenge: how to develop and maintain reliable income streams.
Over the past 20 years, but especially since the Great Recession (2007-2009), both the average donation to charity and the share of American households who donate to charity at all have steadily declined. Twenty years ago, about 85 percent of Americans gave. That share has steadily declined to about 50 percent. And, according to a recent study by Indiana University, while confidence in nonprofits is significantly higher than in Congress and corporations, only about 40 percent of Americans trust nonprofits to do what is right.
Most nonprofits sustain their programs essentially through a mix of private contributions, donations (including in-kind), fundraising activities and events, charging fees for certain services or selling goods/items. Relying on a single source of income can be risky for any organization. Diversifying revenue streams can help mitigate that risk and ensure the sustainability of the nonprofit. The CGC sustains itself in exactly this diversified way, cobbling together a mix of revenue every year to pursue our mission of building community through education, gardening and environmental stewardship.
There is no standard revenue mix, no one-size-fits-all formula. The source of a nonprofit’s funding varies due to many factors, with the two biggest being the nonprofit’s size and mission. Generally speaking, small to midsize nonprofits (including the CGC) tend to rely heavily on donations from individuals and grants from foundations.
Our Revenue Streams
This is a popular time of year for charitable giving thanks to the holiday spirit and because it’s the last opportunity for donors to submit tax-deductible gifts. In fact, like 50 percent of all nonprofits, we receive most donations from October through December. And this charitable giving—that personal act of generosity and kindness—plays an enormous role in our ability to do this work. Each year the CGC receives about half of our revenue from individual contributions.
Foundations are another crucial component of our revenue. Over the years, the CGC has also enjoyed the support of almost every major foundation and many smaller family foundations in our region. We continue to aggressively apply to foundations that include conservation, equity and environmental education among their funding priorities.
Fundraising events are another staple of nonprofit development programs. Big annual events like CGC’s spring plant sale require big annual efforts. We’ve learned that events are only worthwhile when designed to accomplish multiple objectives, and we’ll continue to explore how to use our spring and fall plant sales as opportunities to better connect people to our mission, leaving guests educated and inspired.
When Covid-19 lockdowns pushed the world into all-digital interactions, it presented the CGC with the opportunity to test online classes. Prior to the pandemic, we never had the data to compare a digital approach with in-person programming. What we learned is that some experiences simply can’t be replicated online—especially when it comes to learning about gardening, plants and conservation. In 2023, more than half of our 80 in-person classes sold out and we earned over $30,000 in class registration fees.
While our other opportunities for earned income are modest, they are a vital component of our fundraising tool kit. Our little lobby gift shop and facility benefitted from having more people around the CGC in 2023. Including last week’s Holiday Weekend sales, it has brought in more than $26,000 in revenue compared to just over $7,000 in 2022, and we’ve earned over $6,000 in facility rentals this year.
Funding Environmental Nonprofits
While giving to environmental organizations has increased in the past year, and many more groups are receiving funding than just a few years ago, it remains a stubbornly small percentage of overall charitable giving, according to the annual Giving USA report. In 2022, the Environment/Animals subsector received only 3 percent ($16.1 billion) of the total philanthropic contributions ($499.3 billion), making it the smallest of the nine nonprofit categories, lagging behind sectors such as Religion, Education and Human Services.
The good news is that many funders are beginning to prioritize conservation as a way to address the biodiversity and climate crisis and the need for citizens to understand our environmental challenges. We hope to see this shift in priorities reflected in a higher percentage given to environmental nonprofits in years to come.
A Legacy of Transparency and Trust
I often think of the number of individuals in the 80+ years since the CGC was created who have contributed some of their time, talent and treasure to its mission. I was especially reminded of that last week during our Holiday Weekend activities and festivities. Present were people who reminisced about classes, plant sales and garden tours going back thirty or more years. Joining them was a new generation of young people and families curious about plants and ecology, about restoring urban lands and urban conservation, about learning about native plants from their neighbors who’ve gotten rid of their grass.
We often speak about the CGC “family” and how grateful we are for our circle of gardeners, activists, teachers, students, families, volunteers and supporters. We don’t use that word lightly. It is a circle that we strive to keep close. Transparency matters. We know that if we want to maintain relationships with this circle, we need to listen, ask questions and respond to the needs of our constituents. Only then can we effectively work together for the greater good.
We all need to know that our actions can make a difference, and that we are a part of something larger than ourselves. I felt proud and humbled by the fact that CGC continues to find ways to bring all kinds of people together around an easily recognizable common good: the earth and all of life. We are grateful for the trust the people who support our mission have in our work and in us.
Together, we can all contribute to a healthier planet and people.