Monday, September 28, 2009

Charitable Giving in the US (listen)

Charitable Contributions Drop, But Not Dramatically

Charitable giving reached an estimated $307.65 billion in the United States in 2008 — a 2 percent drop from the previous year (npr.org/news/graphics).

(NPR) Charitable giving declined last year, along with the economy. But it didn't go down by as much as some people had thought, according to a new report out Wednesday. [But giving to religious organizations seemed to be up.]

Charitable giving in the United States dropped 2 percent in 2008 from the year before. Even so, people gave more than $307 billion, which begs the question: Is this good news or bad news?

"I think $300 billion-plus — two years in a row — is great news," said Nancy Raybin, chair of the Giving Institute, whose Giving USA Foundation reports annually on charitable trends.

She said that after the stock market tumbled last September, people expected the worst. "People expected that as the economy tanked, charitable giving would tank along with it," Raybin said. "And that didn't happen. It may have happened to some organizations, but it didn't happen to every organization across the country." More>>

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