2014 Best Year Ever For Charitable Giving
At a recent free Member Briefing on August 20, Len Moisan, President of The Covenant Group, presented recent findings from Giving USA and Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the results are encouraging!
According to the study, Americans gave more than $358 billion to charity last year, a historic high and a big increase from just a few years ago.
A recession that brought a big dip in giving in 2008 and 2009. But over the last few years, donations have been growing steadily back to pre-recession levels. The study also showed that, contributions grew in almost every area - education, the arts, health, the environment and human services.
Corporate giving rose almost 12 percent last year.
There was also a big increase in foundation giving to almost $54 billion. Giving USA, who has tracked national donation data and trends for the last 60 years, noted that there were also several so-called mega-gifts last year. Those are donations of $200 million or more by wealthy individuals, such as Bill and Melinda Gates, who gave almost $2 billion to the Gates Foundation.
An infographic of highlights from the Giving USA report can be found here.
Join Len Moisan and Leo Arnoult, President of Arnoult & Associates, as they lead a breakout discussion on the trends and best practices in fund development planning at our upcoming annual conference. To learn more or to register, visit cnpe.org.