However, the 1,000 consumers surveyed expressed support for the fundraisers, indicating that the decline in fundraiser participation may be tied to the economic slowdown.

The top reason people didn’t support a fundraiser was that they weren’t asked, the survey found. Two-thirds of respondents said they hadn’t been asked to make a fundraising purchase between April 2010 and April 2011.

Telling people how the money raised by school and youth groups would be spent had a clear effect on consumers. More than one-third (37 percent) said they wouldn’t have made a purchase without knowing this, and 25 percent of people said they purchased more than originally planned.