“Charitable giving rose 5.4 percent last year to a record $358.4 billion, according to estimates released today by ‘Giving USA,’ the annual snapshot of American philanthropy,” write Holly Hall, Eden Stiffman, Ron Coddington, and Meredith Myers in Thursday’s (6/11) Chronicle of Philanthropy. “The figures show that donations from individuals, corporations, and foundations last year topped the record giving figure achieved in 2007, just before the recession started to affect donation figures. The recovery was the shortest on record after such a devastating and deep recession and was also far faster than experts had predicted.… ‘Giving USA’ says now that the 2009-to-2014 recovery is the fastest on record in the past 40 years. The report, researched and written by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, is considered the most comprehensive source of data on patterns on Americans’ charitable giving. Giving to all types of charities rose last year except to international aid groups, which dropped 3.6 percent, in part because few natural disasters called attention to the need to donate.” The article spotlights key findings from the report, and includes explanatory charts and graphs.
Posted June 17, 2015
