Being Confident

For this Monday's edition of DMI's Insights, I wanted to talk about confidence. Specifically, our confidence in the economy. A lot of times, people's perception of the economy tells us a lot more than what is actually going on.

SPRI, the Survey & Policy Research Institute at San Jose State University, conducts various surveys to capture people's perceptions. DMI has worked with SPRI to conduct a couple of surveys as well. Hopefully those results will be released shortly.

Their most recent survey was to test California consumer confidence along with Silicon Valley's consumer confidence. Based on their results, they found that overall confidence had increased. "The upward trend reflects a more positive assessment of both current economic conditions and future expectations."

One of the questions that I thought was interesting was Question #2, which asked: "Now looking ahead - do you think that a year from now you (and your family living there) will be better off financially, or worse off, or just about the same as now?" 77% of those polled in California and 79% in Silicon Valley believed that they would either be better off or at least the same as now. This shows that people are definitely encouraged by our current economic state and are hopeful of what's to come.

This is a perfect opportunity to market. It is important to take full advantage of the positive view we have of our economy. People are willing to support causes and invest in services based on that confidence. Also, people understand that in tough times, there are more of those in need. From our experience, we have seen many of our Non Profit clients continue to receive a lot of donations and even increase their donations in the past two years.

Please take a moment to review the full survey and let us know what your thoughts are. Do you agree with the results? How has your organization done in 2010 compared to 2009? What are your expectations for 2011 and beyond?

SPRI Consumer Confidence Survey Results

--L