Fool.com: Charity's Good News and Bad News [Motley Fool Take] December 6, 2004

Fool.com: Charity's Good News and Bad News [Motley Fool Take] December 6, 2004: "Charity's Good News and Bad News
The Motley Fool Take
Foolanthropy

By Selena Maranjian (TMF Selena)
December 6, 2004
The folks at GuideStar.org, who, among other things, make available the tax filings of more than 1 million nonprofits for us diligent donors to dissect, recently reported some good and bad news regarding charities.
First, the good. Contributions to charities appear to have increased in the first nine months of this year, compared with the same period last year. Half of the charities surveyed reported donations up, while roughly a quarter each saw flat inflows and decreases. Overall, that's not bad -- though perhaps we might prefer to see a big majority of charities enjoying increased contributions.
The bad news, however, is that 71% of those responding reported an increase in need -- in other words, whatever each of these charities provides, more of it is needed than before. Putting all this information together, it appears that many nonprofits with flat or decreasing donations are facing more demand for their services -- call it a rock and a hard place. Even those organizations receiving more money than last year may not be receiving enough to meet their demands.
A few more interesting details:
Big charities were more likely to have received increased "