Washington ? Charities and nonprofit agencies are hoping for an end-of-year surge in giving to mirror the recent increase in consumer spending and help compensate for a difficult 2009, according to charity officials.

“This is basically the most critical giving season since the Great Depression,” said Glen O’Gilvie, of the Center for Nonprofit Advancement. “This will be the litmus test, to see whether the nonprofit sector is coming out of this, remaining stable or getting worse. Every trickle, every sign of growth is helpful in that.”

Officials at some groups report that they are doing better than expected; others said they have not seen the increase they hoped for. Final numbers will not be available until next month.

Some charities are holding out hope that the year’s final moments will bring a blizzard of gifts.

The poor economy forced cuts in funding to nonprofit groups from all sides in 2009; at the same time, it left more families in need of help.

Many nonprofit groups are counting on individual donors to help make up what they lost in contributions from businesses, governments and foundations this year.