A Slowing Stock Market Sees Charities Struggle
Monday March 16, 2009
New data confirms that charities are struggling in the face of worldwide stock market declines.
Australia's largest manager of charitable trusts, Perpetual, has indicated a substantial increase in the size of applications for charities needing funding. A total of $60 million dollars worth of applications for funding has been received this year, which is $19 million more than previous years.
The overall number of charities requesting funding has also increased 26 percent over last year to a total number of 942. Perpetual's general manager of philanthropy, Andrew Thomas, has stated that the increases have occurred across all areas of the community, including social welfare, health services, education, the arts and medical research.
The statistics back up reports that charitable organisation are reeling from the effect of declines on global stock markets, and particularly one-off donations are becoming less common. "As economies slow, many organisations are finding themselves in a 'donation-demand squeeze', which sees one-off donations declining as people's capacity to give declines," Mr Thomas says.
A growth in demand for services is also apparent as the number of people in need also increases. This includes a strong demand for financial counselling services, as Mission Australia CEO Toby Hall has stated. "With families on tight budgets, this means many are starting to fall over the edge and we are seeing a strong growth in the level of demand for financial counselling services across the country," Mr Hall said.
Despite the increase in demand and declines in worldwide stock markets, Perpetual has stated that grants from the 400-plus charitable trusts will not decline in 2009, and charity organisations are urging people not to forget about the need to donate when possible.
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