Giving Hit $203 Billion In Year 2000.
Friday, June 1 2001
Following a year of transitions, the nation's charities found the donating public staying true to form, giving at record-breaking levels. Yet, like the nation's economy, the growth of giving has slowed significantly.
Giving to nonprofits cracked through the $200 billion threshold, moving up $12.66 billion to an estimated at $203.45 billion for Year 2000, according to Giving USA 2001.
Hold the celebration. The 6.6 percent increase compared to the revised 1999 figure of $190.79 billion was the slowest growth rate since 1995. Adjusted for inflation, the growth is just 3.2 percent.
Falling slightly, charitable contributions represented 2 percent of the overall Gross Domestic Product in 2000. The past two years have shown giving at 2.1 percent of the GDP, which were 28-year highs. Giving as a percentage of personal income, however, remained stuck at 1.8 percent, a figure it has not surpassed since 1972.
Giving USA, published by the AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy, the research arm of the American Association of Fund-Raising Counsel, is an annual report tracking revenues from individuals, bequests, foundations, and corporations.
The research was headed up by the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy (COP) in Indianapolis. This is the first time that the COP, under contract to AAFRC, led the estimates. Melissa Brown of the center served as Giving USA's managing editor this year.
George C. Ruotolo, chair of the AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy, said the transitionary nature of the United States in 2000 influenced the findings. "Philanthropy will continue through these changes and others to come," he said, noting the shaky stock market, the decline of the dot-coins, and even the unprecedented presidential election.
Ruotolo admitted he was so anxious about what the giving numbers would show, he researched giving during recessions in the past 50 years. 'Even in the most recessionary period in our country's recent history, philanthropy has grown," he said. "If you analyze those recessionary periods and compare them to nonrecessionary periods, the difference of average growth was 2 to 3 percent.... Looking at that history caused me a certain amount of concern."
Ruotolo said the philanthropy among megagivers eases some of that concern. COP keeps a list of multimillion-dollar gifts, and such megagivers have continued to support American philanthropy through difficult economic times.
