UWBA conducted its fourth annual Bay Area Nonprofit Pulse Survey in March and April, 2006. Survey responses were compiled and analyzed for United Way by Burr, Pilger & Mayer LLP, an accounting and business consulting firm dedicated to helping nonprofit organizations better manage, develop and make the most of their financial resources.

The trend of increasing demand for services remains strong, with 62% of survey respondents reporting an increase in service demand in 2005 (vs. 69% in 2004), and 69% projecting continued demand increases in 2006. To address this growing need, 39% of respondents hope to boost existing service levels this year while 45% plan to maintain the level of services they already provide. One third (32%) of respondents expect to add services in 2006 that they did not previously provide.

In the face of ever-growing community needs, Bay Area nonprofits are generally upbeat about the future: 30% of respondents said they felt “very optimistic,” and 50% said they felt “cautiously optimistic” about the future prospects for their organizations, a combined increase of 20%, compared to two years ago. Accordingly, 72% of respondents predict their revenue will increase (46%) or remain stable (26%) in 2006. Thirty-seven percent of respondents reported an increase in total revenue in 2005, while 20% said revenue remained the same from the previous year.