It’s been another challenging year for the sector but Katherine Raskob believes in better things to come.

I remember writing in this column late in 2020 that most of us – fundraisers and the general public alike – couldn’t wait to see the back of 2020 given what we endured; from drought and floods to bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic. Who would have thought that 2021 would be equally challenging, but in slightly different ways?! The impacts of COVID-19 continue to wreak havoc on our work and our lives.
From a fundraising perspective it didn’t get any easier. In the annual JB Were/NAB Charitable Giving Index in April 2020, the authors predicted that philanthropy would experience a fall of 7% in 2019/20 and a further fall of 12% in 2020/21. It turns out that they were on the money with a fall in giving by 16% to last December, after a peak in February 2020, taking giving back to mid-2016 levels.
That many charitable organisations were able to adapt to the changing and challenging environment, including increased demand for programs…