Giving Outlook
The bad economy continues to cause the biggest donors to cut back on their giving, according to a Cygnus Applied Research study of nearly 7,000 donors.
Only 8% of typical donors say they plan to give less to charity in 2010, down from 17.5% in a similar survey last year. But among the affluent donors, 11% said that they would give less to charity this year than in 2009. That percentage grew to 17% among the top 10% of donors who gave the most money to charity.
The study concludes because so many charities rely more on loyal donors who make the largest gifts than they do on donors of more modest means, the economic downturn may continue to depress giving for a long time.
Corporate Giving
A Chronicle of Philanthropy survey of 162 of the country's largest corporations finds that corporate profits are on the rebound, but most big businesses say it will be some time before they can give as much cash as they did before the recession.
Seventy-three percent of businesses polled said they expect their cash and product giving in 2010 to be about the same as in 2009 -- a year in which cash giving fell by 7.5%. Thirteen percent anticipate an increase and 13% predict a drop.
Visionaries
Do you know about Bolder Giving? Melinda Gates credits this non-profit started in 2007 by Boston couple Anne and Christopher Ellinger as an initiative of the Zing Foundation, with being an impetus behind the campaign to persuade the world's billionaires to commit at least half of their fortunes to charity.
The Ellingers are co-authors of We Gave Away a Fortune and founders of More Than Money magazine. In their decades of involvement in donor networks, they were struck by how rarely even very committed people gave at their full potential so they formed an organization to inspire and support individuals to do so.
The Poor Have Miles And Miles Of Heart
Professor Paul Piff and colleagues from University of California, Berkeley conducted four different tests and each time -- poor individuals were more generous, charitable, trusting and helpful than their rich counter parts. The study shows that lower class individuals act in a more pro-social fashion because of a greater commitment to egalitarian values and feelings of compassion. |
Carson, who died of emphysema in January 2005, was a major donor to environmental groups, AIDS, children's charities, and other non-profit organizations during his lifetime but did little to publicize his giving.
Encouraging News
The Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, the nation's largest donor-advised fund program and third largest public charity, reports that its donors made more than 152,000 grants totaling $531 million to non-profits nationwide during the first six months of 2010, up 27% and 16%, respectively, from the same period last year. Both of these totals represent the strongest first half for outgoing grants in the Gift Fund's 19-year history.
The Gift Fund also experienced strong growth in incoming contributions and new accounts. Charitable contributions were up 67% and new Giving Account openings increased 19% from the same period last year.
Not So Encouraging
In GuideStar's first economic survey of public charity and private foundations in 2010, about 40% of respondents have seen a further decline in contributions in the first five months of 2010 compared to the first five months of 2009. At the same time, 63% have seen an increase in demand for their services. Other findings:
· Eight percent of respondents indicate that their organizations are in imminent danger of closing.
· To balance budgets, 17% of respondents reduced program services, and 11% laid off employees.
· More than 60% of participants reporting decreased contributions attribute the drop to a decline in the number of individual donors and the size of their donations.
In-Kind Surge
While corporations cut back their charitable giving in 2009, non-cash contributions by U.S.-based companies rose by 5%.
A recent survey of the nation's largest companies conducted by the Chronicle of Philanthropy and USA Today found that the dollar amount of cash grants awarded by U.S.-based corporations declined some 7.5% to $3.9 billion, in 2009. The survey also found that non-cash contributions of items such as computer equipment, software, drugs, and employees' time accounted for more than 50% of the total charitable contributions at 19 of the companies surveyed.
I Give Therefore I Am
Writing in The American Interest, Philip Auerswald and Zoltan Acs of George Mason University, suggest that the defining characteristic of American capitalism is not only an entrepreneurial culture that generates great wealth but also a philanthropic infrastructure that recycles that wealth in ways that create more opportunity, more growth and more wealth.
This virtuous cycle, they concluded, is the "inner dynamic of American capitalism and the source of its prosperity." They contrast that to socialist countries, where philanthropy is weak and government takes on the recycling role, or less-developed countries, where oligarchs' fortunes are not recycled at all.
It's Still The Economy, Stupid
Americans of all political persuasions say the economy and jobs are the most important problems facing the country. These concerns easily outpace all others, providing politicians seeking office in this fall's midterm elections with clear marching orders from their constituents: Fix the economy.
Economic concerns have dominated Americans' views of the nation's top problems since early 2008. In a recent Gallup Poll, 65% of Americans mention some aspect of the economy as the top problem facing the country, down only slightly from the beginning of this year.
Other problems 5% or more of Americans mention include dissatisfaction with government and Congress, healthcare, immigration issues, and the decline in ethics/morals/family values.
Reading List
Super-pollster John Zogby draws on thousands of in-depth surveys conducted especially for his new book, The Way We'll Be, to reveal where we're headed-politically, culturally, and spiritually.
Conclusion: The American dream is in transition. It's rapidly being redefined by four meta-movements -- living with limits as consumers and citizens; embracing diversity of views and ways of life; looking inward to find spiritual comfort; and demanding authenticity from the media, our leaders, and leading institutions.
Spearheaded by today's 18-to-29-year-olds -- the "First Global" generation-Americans are becoming more internationalist, consensus-oriented, and environmentally conscious and less willing to identify themselves by the things they do to earn or spend their money. But this is more than a youth tide. Americans of all ages are moving beyond old divides-red state/blue state, pro-life/pro-choice, beer drinker/wine connoisseur-to form a new national consensus that will shape the nation for decades to come.
Little Fenway
Pat O'Connor, a 55-year-old IBM manager and father of three in Essex, Vt., built Little Fenway in 2001, turning a one-acre parcel behind his house on a dirt road into a replica of Fenway Park, complete with bases, bleachers, an old-fashioned Fenway-style scoreboard, a 12.5-foot-tall Green Monster and a 3-by-3-foot plastic Citgo sign -- it's not neon -- that looks a lot like the one towering over Kenmore Square.
And they're coming. He's held successful several fundraisers at Little Fenway including Wiffle Ball tournaments to raise money for New York disaster relief after the World Trade Center attacks and for victims of spinal cord injuries, with legendary Red Sox pitcher Bill "Spaceman" Lee playing in the tournaments.
Quiz: The Giving Pledge
Forty of the wealthiest families and individuals in the U.S.
have committed to returning the majority of their wealth to charitable causes by taking The Giving Pledge. Can you match the following persons with the percentage of their net wealth they've pledged to philanthropy? Answers are shown at the bottom of the left-hand column. Until next month ...
|
