Giving USA 2018: Americans Gave $410.02 Billion to Charity in 2017, Crossing the $400 Billion Mark for the First Time
ATLANTA (PRWEB) June 12, 2018 -- Powered by a booming stock market and a strong economy, charitable giving by American individuals, bequests, foundations and corporations to U.S. charities surged to an estimated $410.02 billion in 2017, according to Giving USA 2018: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2017, released today.
Giving exceeded $400 billion in a single year for the first time, increasing 5.2 percent (3.0 percent adjusted for inflation) over the revised total of $389.64 contributed in 2016.
“Perhaps the only ‘bad news’ in this report is that giving to religion continues to lose market share, reaching an all-time low of just 31 percent of the pie. This is a resumption of a 30+ years decline that stalled for several years at 32%, but now appears to have resumed its decline,” explains Giving USA Institute member and President of Alexander Haas, David King.
King presents the detailed report and provides expert insights in a special edition of his popular podcast, Futures in Fundraising today. David is also the trusted source to deliver the report and its implications at a breakfast of Atlanta’s nonprofit executives, June 19, in partnership with the AFP Greater Atlanta Chapter. “While some of the data appears straight-forward, not everything is a result of direct cause-and-effect. Our team digs into the data to reveal longer-term trends and the underlying causes, enabling us to identify trends in charitable giving that are important to nonprofit organizations’ success and growth,” says King.
Giving USA, the longest-running and most comprehensive report of its kind in America, is published by Giving USA Foundation, a public service initiative of The Giving Institute. It is researched and written by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI.
According to the report, giving from all four sources and giving to all but one of the major types of recipient organizations grew in 2017. While government policy developments may have played some role in charitable giving in 2017, most of the effects of the tax policy changes adopted in late December 2017 likely will affect giving in 2018 and beyond.
Major findings of the report are:
1. Giving by individuals totaled an estimated $286.65 billion, rising 5.2 percent in 2017 (an increase of 3.0 percent, adjusted for inflation). Itemized giving comprised 84.4 percent of the total estimate for giving by individuals. Giving by both itemizing and non-itemizing households increased at 5.6 percent and 3.3 percent respectively.
2. Giving by foundations increased 6.0 percent, to an estimated $66.90 billion in 2017 (an increase of 3.8 percent, adjusted for inflation). These figures are provided by the Foundation Center. Grantmaking by community foundations rose 11.0 percent from 2016. Grantmaking by operating foundations and independent foundations also increased, at 6.2 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively.
3. Giving by bequest totaled an estimated $35.70 billion in 2017, increasing 2.3 percent from 2016 (a 0.2 percent increase, adjusted for inflation). Giving by corporations is estimated to have increased by 8.0 percent in 2017, totaling $20.77 billion (an increase of 5.7 percent, adjusted for inflation). Corporate giving includes cash and in-kind contributions made through corporate giving programs, as well as grants and gifts made by corporate foundations. Corporate foundation grantmaking is estimated to have totaled $6.09 billion in 2017, an increase of 4.5 percent (in current dollars) from 2016.
4. Giving to religion increased 2.9 percent between 2016 and 2017, with an estimated $127.37 billion in contributions. Inflation-adjusted giving to the religion subsector increased 0.7 percent in 2017. Giving to education is estimated to have increased 6.2 percent between 2016 and 2017, to $58.90 billion. Adjusted for inflation, giving to education organizations increased 4.0 percent.
5. Giving to human services increased by an estimated 5.1 percent in 2017, totaling $50.06 billion. Adjusted for inflation, giving to human services organizations increased by 2.9 percent.
6. Giving to foundations is estimated to have increased by 15.5 percent in 2017, to $45.89 billion. Adjusted for inflation, giving to foundations increased 13.1 percent.
7. Giving to health is estimated to have increased by 7.3 percent between 2016 and 2017 (an increase of 5.1 percent, adjusted for inflation), to $38.27 billion.
8. Giving to public-society benefit organizations increased an estimated 7.8 percent between 2016 and 2017, to $29.59 billion. Adjusted for inflation, giving to public-society benefit organizations grew 5.5 percent.
9. Giving to arts, culture, and humanities is estimated to have increased 8.7 percent between 2016 and 2017, to $19.51 billion. Adjusted for inflation, giving to the arts, culture, and humanities subsector increased 6.5 percent.
10. Giving to international affairs is estimated to be $22.97 billion in 2017, a decline of 4.4 percent from 2016. Adjusted for inflation, giving to international affairs organizations declined 6.4 percent.
11. Giving to environmental and animal organizations is estimated to have increased 7.2 percent between 2016 and 2017, to $11.83 billion. Adjusted for inflation, donations to the environment/animals subsector increased 5.0 percent.
12. Giving to individuals is estimated to have declined 20.7 percent (22.4 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars) between 2016 and 2017, to $7.87 billion. The bulk of these donations are in-kind gifts of medications to patients in need made through the patient assistance programs of pharmaceutical companies’ operating foundations.
Unallocated giving was negative $2.24 billion in 2017. This amount can be considered as the difference between giving by source and use in a particular year. This amount includes the difference between itemized deductions by individuals (and households) carried over from previous years. The tax year in which a gift is claimed by the donor (carried over) and the year when the recipient organization reports it as revenue (the year in which it is received) may be different.
David King is available for interviews on the Giving USA data and how it impacts different nonprofit segments, as well as other fundraising and nonprofit management-related topics. More information on the Futures in Fundraising Podcast is available at the Alexander Haas website http://www.fundraisingcounsel.com.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Members of the media can request 40-year data tables that show sources of contributions by year in current and inflation-adjusted dollars, and allocation of gifts by type of recipient category, also in current and inflation-adjusted dollars. Data also are available showing total giving as a percentage of GDP, individual giving as a percentage of disposable income and corporate giving as a percentage of corporate pre-tax profits.
The requested citation for Giving USA is Giving USA 2018: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2017, a publication of Giving USA Foundation, 2018, researched and written by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Available online at http://www.givingusa.org.
About Alexander Haas, Inc.
Alexander Haas is widely recognized as one of the leading fundraising consulting firms in the nation. Founded in 1987 in Atlanta, Georgia, the firm works with nonprofit organizations of all sizes and shapes including higher education, museums, schools, performing arts, human services, hospitals and religious congregations. Alexander Haas has provided fundraising counsel and conducted successful campaigns for nearly 1,000 organizations of virtually every type, from across the country, with goals ranging from $1 million to more than $1 billion. Services include counsel on: Capital Campaigns, Endowment Campaigns, Campaign Strategy Studies, Development Assessments, Annual Funds, Leadership Annual Giving, Major Gifts, and
Planned Giving. More information is available on the company website http://www.fundraisingcounsel.com or connect with us on Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Alexander.Haas.inc,
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alexander-haas,
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About Giving USA
For over 60 years, Giving USA: The Annual Report on Philanthropy in America, has provided comprehensive charitable giving data that are relied on by donors, fundraisers and nonprofit leaders. The research in this annual report estimates all giving to charitable organizations across the United States. Giving USA is a public outreach initiative of Giving USA Foundation and is researched and written by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Giving USA Foundation, established in 1985 by The Giving Institute, endeavors to advance philanthropy through research and education. Explore Giving USA products and resources, including free highlights of each annual report, at https://givingusa.org.
Cynthia Hayes, Laddering Works, http://www.ladderingworks.com, 804-221-3486, [email protected]
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