Charitable Growth Led by Corporations

The good news for nonprofit organizations is that charitable giving is on the rise.

The not-so-good news is that it is expected to be another five years before contributions reach pre-recession levels, according to a recent report by Giving USA. Overall, there was a 3.5 percent increase in charitable giving for 2012, for a total of $316 billion. Contribution levels in 2007 were $344 billion.

The largest increase came in corporate giving – in part because of record profits in the second half of the year – with an increase of more than 12.2 percent. Many of those were gifts-in-kind rather than cash, such as pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and food.

Corporate giving represents only about 6 percent of total giving, however, with individual gifts representing by far the most at 81 percent of all gifts. Foundations saw a 4.4 percent increase in donations, while individual giving increased by 3.9 percent over the previous year. Charitable bequests had a 7 percent drop.

A bright spot in giving by individuals is the size of gifts by some of the country’s wealthiest donors. Nine gifts of $100 million or more were made.

Arts, culture and humanities organizations saw the largest increase in donations. Giving to educational institutions, in par­ ticular colleges, increased by 7 percent, and another strong area was environmental and animal groups, which saw a 6.8 percent increase.

At the other end, religious groups saw a slight decline in contribu­tions, -0.2 percent, but religious organizations continued to receive a larger share of contributions than any other cause, 32 percent.

Davis & Hodgdon Associates CPAs has been assisting nonprofits, individuals and businesses with tax and accounting services in the Burlington Vermont Metro area for more than 20 years. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to call 802.878.1963 or email [email protected].

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