First Person: Nonprofit Investment Results for 2010

When The Nonprofit Times released its 22nd annual study of the nation's top 100 nonprofits, the worst of 2009 was confirmed. The total amount of income for the top 100 charities came to $64.78 million, which is up by a small margin from the previous year, even though total public support was down more than 4 percent.

Investments are starting to rebound in 2010, and helped push several nonprofits up the list. Dan Romano, a partner of the National Not-For-Profit Tax Practice said although contributions are still down "investments are coming up." He added, "It's not going to get back to where it once was, at least any time soon, but that's one good sign."

Although it's certain that since the market collapse two years ago, charities have rethought their investments and made changes in their investment policies and managers, nothing was drastic enough to pin the success of improvements in investments. Romano believes it is mainly the "types of investments that have changed."

It's important to note that an organization's fiscal year greatly impacts whether that particular organization will list a gain or loss in their investments in the stock market. More than 60 charities on the top 100 list have fiscal years ending between March and September and not January. For instance, the American Heart Association (AHA) reported a $35.1 million gain before the hit in October 2008 and a $31.5 million loss in the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2009. Chief Financial Officer of AHA, Sundi Josh said, "We are one of the early charities reporting year end. When we file the form 990, our information is already 6 months out of date."

Although the results show red all over the sector's 990 forms, non-profit leaders, including Sundi, are optimistic for the future of investments and contributions based on the improvements seen in this year's data. Sundi says, "Our general sense is that along with economy, things have been improving since last year. Both contribution and investment markets have improved. We are positive about the future."

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