Charitable giving in the US reached a new record of an estimated $295bn in 2006, according to Giving USA 2007. This is an increase of $12bn or 4.2 % over 2005, a year which saw exceptional giving to disaster relief of nearly $7.4bn.
The 2006 figures include $1.9bn paid by Warren Buffett as the first instalment of his 20-year pledge of $30bn. While much of the news focus has been on this and other ‘mega-gifts’, they only make up 1.3% of total giving for the year. And not all charities saw income rise: 32% reported a drop in contributions for 2006.
Individual giving continued to be by far the largest source of donations – 75.6% of all estimated giving. It reached an estimated $222.9bn, a rise of 4.4%. Nearly all of the wealthiest 10% of households – those with incomes over $100,000 – give to charity, making up 40%-to-45% of the total. And around 65% of households with incomes lower than $100,000 also give to charity – higher than the percentage who vote or read a Sunday newspaper. The average given by these households is $2,000.
Corporate donations also fell, decreasing by 7.6% to $12.7bn. However, if the extraordinary corporate gifts for disaster relief in 2005 are excluded, corporate giving shows a growth of 1.5% year on year.
By far the largest increase in charitable donations in 2006 was in foundation giving, which grew by 12.6% to $36.5bn. This significant rise is attributed to the expanding number of foundations, as well as rapid growth in the stock market during the year. Around half of this total came from ‘family foundations’ and it is thought some giving through this channel may be replacing some individual donations.
Religious organisations continue to be the largest group of recipients of US giving at 32.8% of the total. Yet the biggest growth was in donations to arts, culture and humanities organisations, which saw an increase of 9.9% to $12.5bn. Giving to education rose an estimated 9.8%, to $41bn, and accounts for 13.9% of total estimated giving in 2006.
- Giving USA, published by the Giving USA Foundation and researched and written by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, can be ordered for $75, plus postage and handling, at www.givingusa.org.
