Have you noticed more requests from charities? If you read their letters or emails, you will recognize a familiar plea: Giving is down, needs are up. This has held true for most charities, but the news is not all bad.
Giving USA recently released overall charitable-giving numbers for 2011. Giving increased 4 percent in 2011 to $298.42 billion in contributions (but only an increase of 0.9 percent when adjusted for inflation). Let’s take a closer look.
Per the norm, it is giving by individuals that made up the lion’s share of charitable giving. In 2011, giving by individuals in all of the various forms accounted for 88 percent of all giving, and that’s to the tune of $217.79 billion.
Giving by bequest increased by 12.2 percent to $24.41 billion. Charities, take note: Legacy giving is the ultimate expression of one’s commitment to a charitable cause. Talk to your loyal supporters about this simple way to make a difference.
Giving by foundations increased 1.8 percent to $41.67 billion, but that amount is actually a slight decline when adjusted for inflation. Foundations accounted for 14 percent of total giving.
Giving by corporations held steady at $14.55 billion, providing 5 percent of total giving.
As has been the case in recent years, corporate giving is largely characterized by in-kind donations of goods and supplies.
How did the different charitable sectors fare? Giving to religion was down, although still receiving 32 percent of all charitable dollars. Giving to education, human services, arts health and welfare organizations increased. The largest increase was in giving to individuals (largely medications programs) and next was to international affairs organizations. Giving to foundations was down.
As you can see from these numbers, it’s a big world of charities out there. But it has narrowed slightly. There were 1.08 million nonprofits registered with the IRS in 2011 – a decline of 15.6 percent from 2010. This decline is largely due to new federal registration requirements, which resulted in 200,000 organizations losing their tax-exempt status last September, many of which may have already been out of operation.
