tick tick tick...

I think Jeff Brooks may have been talking about me when he mentioned not wanting to be "an alarmist" in his post today.

...but Holly Hall at the Chronicle sniffed out the real story in Target Analysis Group's most recent National Index report.

Even though Target's press release painted a rosy picture saying that there was "Modest Revenue Growth During First Three Quarters of 2007" the picture is actually a little different when you figure in inflation as Holly Hall notes:

In first three quarters of last year, donations made in response to direct-marketing appeals failed to keep pace with inflation, growing by a median of 1.4 percent, meaning that half the groups achieved greater increases and half fared worse. The number of people who made gifts declined by a median 1.4 percent since 2006. Meanwhile, the organizations recruited a median 6.2 percent fewer new donors, on top of a 10-percent decline in new donors for the first three quarters of 2006.

Oh yeah... and did I mention that Goldman Sachs finally jumped on the bandwagon predicting a recession?