Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Philanthropy Down in 2009

Though it is expected to increase in 2010, the almost 5% drop last year is significant, but not nearly as bad as it could have been, given the horrible economy.

A news release from the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College notes the drop.

An excerpt.

"May, 2010 - Individual charitable giving in 2009 amounted to $217.3 billion, a decline of $11.2 billion or 4.9 percent from the estimated $228.5 billion total in 2008, according to the latest report by researchers at the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College and published by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. This 5% decline is in addition to the 6 percent decline that the Center calculated in 2008.

"For 2010, the researchers project annualized individual giving totals (also known as household giving) will range between approximately $222 billion and $227 billion, an increase between 3 and 4.5 percent over the estimated total for 2009. The projected growth is based on analysis of the first two quarters according to scenarios that assume relatively low and high economic growth.

"The full report, will be published in the July/August 2010 issue of Advancing Philanthropy, the magazine of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. The report's findings are based on estimates produced quarterly by the Individual Giving Model developed and housed at the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy. It is the nation's first model designed to estimate future and real-time charitable giving by households on a quarterly basis."