by Patrick M. Rooney Giving is up after two years of significant declines during the worst recession since the Great Depression. But what does that mean? Is it just a glimmer of hope, or does it warrant a sigh of relief? Will the recession have a lingering effect on American’s giving habits? Will the uptick become a sustained upturn? Giving grew an estimated 2.1 percent in real terms in 2010. That’s great news, and it’s reasonable given the still uncertain state of the economy. We would expect a modest economic recovery to equate to modest growth in giving. Nevertheless, giving - and the charities that rely on it - still have a long way to go. Giving took a worse hit during the Great Recession than in previous recessions, falling a combined 13 percent in 2008 and 2009 after … Continue Reading
Giving USA: the Numbers
Giving USA Foundation (TM) and its research partner, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, today announced that total charitable contributions from American individuals, corporations and foundations were an estimated $290.89 billion in 2010, up from a revised estimate of $280.30 billion for 2009. The 2010 estimate represents growth of 3.8 percent in current dollars and 2.1 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars. Giving to religion, at 35 percent of the total, remains the largest share of all contributions, with an estimated $100.63 billion. The estimated increase in 2010 was 0.8 percent in current dollars, with a small decline of the same amount, 0.8 percent, in inflation-adjusted dollars. Giving to public-society benefit organizations was an estimated $24.24 billion, an … Continue Reading
U.S. Giving Increased in 2010
by Robert I. Evans and Avrum D. Lapin Charitable giving in the U.S. increased by almost four percent in 2010, a significant announcement that comes today from The Giving Institute and its research partner, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. The $290.89 billion annual total of giving for 2010 reflects actual support provided by individuals, foundations, and corporate sources. It is, in our estimation, a positive sign that non-profits in the U.S. may, hopefully be experiencing a critical turn around after two years of declines in donor dollars and uneven consumer confidence. The report reflects significant increases for international causes, prompted specifically by Haitian relief, which caused catastrophic damage to the island nation. The report also reflected the transfer of … Continue Reading
When Times Are Tough, People Support Houses of Worship…Even Jews!
by Robert I. Evans & Avrum D. Lapin In our previous piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, we described a few notable trends emerging from the 2008 report of Giving USA, the highly respected and often-cited annual report outlining last year’s results for charitable giving. The study captured headlines across the country but few reporters focused on the one noticeable sector where we saw continued annual growth in overall donations: RELIGION. Giving to religion increased in 2008, and continues to constitute the largest sector of the “giving pie” in the U.S. philanthropic community. This finding has been consistent for more than a generation. But to what can we attribute this increase in giving to religion in 2008 at a time when the arts, social services and education sectors experienced … Continue Reading
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