Preliminary figures suggest Swedish charities fared better than expected in pandemic year

Thanks to public giving, revenue losses for last year among Swedish charities look likely to be less severe than anticipated, a report has shown.

For its ‘Giving, commitment and trust in the wake of the pandemic’ report, Giva Sverige questioned its 54 largest members (organisations with SEK 25 million or more in annual income from gifts and grants) about the gifts and grants received during 2020.

The forecast, which is based on preliminary fundraising results, shows that total income from gifts and grants is expected to be on a par with 2019, when a total of SEK 9.1 billion was collected by these organisations.

Just over 40% of the organisations stated an increase in funds raised, while a little over half predict a decrease and 6% expect no change compared with 2019. However, while public giving remained strong, the biggest change was a drop in corporate donations.

Charlotte Rydh, secretary general of Giva Sverige, commented:

“The decline in donations that we expressed concern about at the beginning of the pandemic seems to have been absent, at least for the larger organisations. The public has shown great commitment and a willingness to contribute during the pandemic year, and according to our forecast, gifts from individuals have even increased compared to 2019. On the other hand, organisations with a smaller share of income from private individuals seem to have had more difficulty in 2020.”

2020 was also the first full year in which a new tax reduction for gifts to organisations working in the fields of social assistance and research could be used. According to the report, three out of four organisations that have communicated this to their donors saw an increase in gifts from the public in 2020.

Giva Sverige would like to see this tax reduction extended to all causes. Rydh commented:

“The tax reduction for gifts as an incentive to increase the commitment to nonprofit organisations seems to work well, but far from all organisations can benefit from it. All purposes, such as children and young people or nature and the environment, should of course be included in order for the tax reduction to contribute to a viable civil society.”

Public perception of nonprofits has also remained high over the past year. Working with Novus, Giva Sverige conducted 1013 interviews with the Swedish public aged 18-79, and found that 8 out of 10 have a positive attitude towards nonprofit organisations. And in fact, this has increased during the pandemic, with more people than ever saying they feel very positively about nonprofit organisations, at 41% compared to 30% last year. Additionally, more now feel empowered to make a difference with two out of three agreeing that they can participate and contribute to solving common societal challenges – again an increase on 2019.

Image: Christoph Meinersmann from Pixabay