Americans Gave $290.89 Billion in 2010

2010 Giving In U.S. Shows Modest Uptick; Engagement, Major Gifts Focus Is Indicated

EDITOR'S NOTE: As members of the Giving Institute: Leading Consultants to Nonprofits, Jeffrey Byrne & Associates is proud to support Giving USA and the Giving USA Foundation™, which underwrites the report. We offer the following summary of Giving USA 2011, covering giving in the United States in 2010, for our nonprofit clients and subscribers to New$ You Can U$e, which contains reflections and suggestions from our firm and the Foundation on how this data should be incorporated in your fundraising for 2011 and 2012. For additional information on Giving USA, visit our website and blog.

You can also download and read the full Giving USA news release and key findings, then sign up to hear about this year's report from the key researcher on Tuesday, July 26 in Kansas City. The event is free but space is limited.

Giving in the U.S. in 2010 showed a modest uptick over adjusted numbers for 2009, according to Giving USA. The report, released this week by the Giving USA Foundation™ and its research partner, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, showed that total charitable contributions from American individuals, corporations and foundations were an estimated $290.89 billion in 2010, up from a revised estimate of $280.30 billion for 2009. The 2010 estimate represents growth of 3.8 percent in current dollars and 2.1 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars.

The revised estimates for 2008 and 2009 show that 2008 and 2009 saw the largest drops in giving in more than 40 years as a result of the Great Recession, according to the Giving USA Foundation™, exceeding the impact on giving of previous recessions. View long-term giving trend chart.

The estimated $10 billion increase suggests that giving is beginning to recover as the economy slowly climbs out of the recession. Statistics over the past 40 years indicate that giving has closely tracked the economy. And while market swings over the past decade may have left some practitioners feeling like large fluctuations are the norm, fundraisers should understand that the longer-term trends show that slow growth is the norm, according to members of the Foundation Board.

Practitioners waiting for an overall economic recovery to restore their revenues need to understand that if they have goals of increasing revenues of more than a few percentage points, they should be driving that through improvements to their individual approach rather than waiting for a "rising tide to lift all boats."

The data also suggests increasing importance of engaging both donors and volunteers to understand the important work of the nonprofit, which in turn leads to greater giving. This is particularly true with top donors and board members. A separate longitudinal study of high-net-worth donors by the Center on Philanthropy shows that these donors do not stop giving in bad economic times, but tend to focus that giving on the handful of causes they care about more deeply. The days of introducing a new cause and capturing the low-hanging fruit may be over for the near future, without cultivation and the opportunity for engagement.

2010's recovery also suggests the opportunity to focus on major gifts. Prior to the most recent drop in the market this Spring, the Dow Jones had recovered about 88 percent of its pre-recession value.

Methodology and Giving Estimates

As it does annually, Giving USA revised its 2008 and 2009 estimates as the IRS revised and released its 2008 and 2009 giving estimates, which are used in Giving USA's estimating process. IRS estimates show larger-than-usual decreases in itemized giving. Giving USA also refined its estimating model to more fully reflect the impact of the worst recession in 70 years. As a result of both changes, Giving USA revised downward its estimates for total giving in 2008 and 2009, which were originally estimated at $307.65 billion and $303.75 billion, respectively.

Individual giving rose an estimated 2.7 percent in 2010, to $211.77 billion (1.1 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars). In estimating individual giving for 2010, the model included a new variable for inflation-adjusted change from the previous year - personal consumption - as well as variables used in prior years.

Charitable bequests were estimated to be $22.83 billion, an increase of 18.8 percent in 2010 (16.9 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars). Because estate gifts and tax returns are usually completed one to two years after the donor's death, stock market changes and other asset growth have an important effect on the growth in estate giving.

As anticipated in reports beginning in early 2009, Giving USA shows that grant making by private, community and operating foundations was down slightly. Foundation giving was $41 billion in 2010, down 0.2 percent in current dollars and 1.8 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars.

Driven in part by disaster response in 2010, corporate giving rose to an estimated $15.29 billion, up 10.6 percent in current dollars (8.8 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars). The 2010 numbers for corporate giving also reflect gifts of in-kind donations on behalf of American companies, particularly in the pharmaceutical sector.

Changes in Giving

While giving remained steady or was up slightly for many sectors, giving to the arts, public-society benefit, and international affairs fared better than most. Giving to education saw an increase for the first time in three years.

Giving to education rose to an estimated $41.67 billion, an increase of 5.2 percent in current dollars (3.5 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars). This is the first year of an increase in giving after two years of declines. Educational organizations received an estimated 14 percent of the total.

Giving to public-society benefit organizations was an estimated $24.24 billion, an increase of 6.2 percent in current dollars (4.5 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars). This subsector, which includes certain types of donor-advised funds as well as umbrella organizations such as United Way, Combined Federal Campaign and United Jewish Appeal that collect donations and redistribute them to other charitable organizations, received 8 percent of the total. The increase in giving to this subsector can in part be attributed to growth in freestanding donor-advised funds. Fidelity® Charitable Gift Fund, for example, reported contributions above $1.6 billion in 2010, which was a 42 percent increase over 2009. It may also reflect special appeals through umbrella organizations in 2010 to respond to significantly increased demand for services to address poverty and homelessness.

Giving to arts, culture and humanities organizations rose an estimated 5.7 percent in current dollars (4.1 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars), to $13.28 billion. This subsector was 5 percent of the 2010 total. Because giving to the arts is driven generally by high-net worth donors, this increase suggests a recovery in giving tied to recovery of portfolio values among these donors.

Giving to international affairs - a relatively new sector making up 5 percent of the total giving pie - increased an estimated 15.3 percent in current dollars (13.5 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars) to $15.77 billion. 

Giving to religion, at 35 percent of the total, remains the largest share of all contributions, with an estimated $100.63 billion. The estimated increase in 2010 was 0.8 percent in current dollars, with a small decline of the same amount, 0.8 percent, in inflation-adjusted dollars.

Giving to foundations rose slightly to $33 billion, an increase of 1.9 percent in current dollars (0.2 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars). The Foundation Center and the Center on Philanthropy jointly estimate contributions to this type of recipient. This includes private, community and operating foundations. This subsector received an estimated 11 percent of the total.

Giving to human services is estimated to be $26.49 billion, an increase of 0.1 percent in current dollars but a decrease of 1.5 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars. This subsector received an estimated 9 percent of the total. Human services includes the majority of the $1.43 billion donated to Haiti disaster relief. The Center on Philanthropy's disaster giving research estimates that 75 percent ($1.07 billion) of those gifts were given to human services organizations. If giving to Haiti disaster relief were not included, giving to human services would have declined by 4 percent in current dollars. The other 25 percent of Haiti relief giving ($0.36 billion) was contributed to international relief organizations and is included in the international affairs subsector. 

Giving to health also shows an estimated increase, to $22.83 billion (1.3 percent in current dollars or a decline of 0.3 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars). This subsector received 8 percent of the total.

Giving to environment/animal-related organizations declined 0.7 percent in current dollars (a decline of 2.3 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars), to an estimated $6.66 billion. This was 2 percent of the total.

Giving to individuals includes grants from foundations to benefit named individuals. Most often, these are gifts of medications to patients in need and are made by operating foundations created by pharmaceutical manufacturers. These gifts are estimated to have remained relatively steady in 2010, at $4.20 billion or 2 percent of the total. 

Every year, Giving USA also calculates the unallocated piece of the giving "pie;" for 2010, it is estimated to be $2.12 billion, or 1 percent of all giving. These are dollars that cannot be attributed to any one particular sector.