By: Bob Scott, Associate Director, Membership & Operations

Each year, the National Health Council (NHC) conducts a Revenue Survey among our Voluntary Health Agency (VHA) members, which reports consolidated revenue for each of the NHC’s VHA member’s national office and all affiliates and/or chapters over a three-year period. Data such as campaign revenue, planned giving, grants, and online giving are collected.

Data was gathered from 72 percent of our VHA members, and the key survey findings are valuable to consider for all our members. With the COVID-19 pandemic as a backdrop, expectations across the board were for lower revenue in 2020. In last year’s Survey, we asked for 2020 projections. The projected consensus was a 16.0% drop in Total Revenue; however, they were half right. Revenue did decline, but not by as much as anticipated. Total Revenue overall decreased 8.0% between 2019 and 2020, continuing the roller coaster ride of the last several years.

All three revenue categories declined. Campaign Revenue was down 8.5%, Other Revenue was down 5.2% and Investment Revenue was off 14.5%. Campaign Revenue at -3.4% from 2018 to 2019 was the only one of the three that was down consecutive years. For that same time period, Other Revenue was up 17.0% and Investment Revenue was up almost 155.0%.

Additional key findings included:

• Campaign Revenue accounts for 70.5% of the total of Campaign & Other Revenue and declined by 8.5%.
• The decline of 5.2% in Other Revenue was less than the projection of -12.6% in the 2019 Survey.
• For the first time ever, Special Events – Non-Corporate Sponsor (16.5%) was not the largest single source of revenue, when compared to Total Revenue. This category had been declining in recent years and with help from the pandemic it dropped lower than Corporate Contributions – Life Sciences, which at 17.9% was number one.
• After two consecutive years of growth in all Online Giving categories, only Online Giving – Website (7.6%) grew, while Online Giving – Crowdfunding (-10.4%) and Online Giving – Peer to Peer (-31.3%) fell.
• Unlike revenue, which declined only half of what was projected in the survey last year, Full-Time Employees (FTEs) dropped 17.5% from 2019 versus a projected decline of 13.0%. This after a 1.3% decline from 2018 to 2019.

One of the major benefits participating organizations receive is a personalized report that compares the responding organization to other VHA members in their revenue group and to the overall responding organization. It is our understanding that members find the report as a whole, and the personalized report in particular, invaluable for decision-making and giving their board valuable data and context. Current VHA members who would like to see the high-level overview report for all participating members, contact membership@nhcouncil.org.