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Donations down, but "religious" giving holds steady

A newly published report on U.S. charitable giving, from the Giving USA Foundation and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, finds that charitable contributions fell 3.6% (or -3.2% inflation-adjusted) in 2009. Overall giving for the year was $303.75 billion, down from $315.08 billion in 2008.

A closer look at the numbers reveals that giving by individuals has not dropped appreciably, nor has giving to religious causes.

Individual giving — which accounts for three-fourths of all charitable donations — fell an estimated 0.4% last year, but when adjusted for inflation (or deflation in 2009) that isn't actually a change from the previous year.

Giving to religion — the largest giving category — fell by just 0.7% (or -0.3% adjusted for deflation), but that came after an estimated 2008 increase of 0.8%. In other words, religious giving, though not growing, held roughly steady during the financially tumultuous years of 2008 and 2009. (It should be noted, however, that if the 2008 number is adjusted for inflation, religious giving showed a decline for that year, not an increase.)

The report probably understates religion-related giving because not all such giving shows up under "Religion." Donations to the Salvation Army, for example, are found under "Human Services." A donation to a seminary would fall under "Education."

Where did the big 2009 declines occur? The largest declines were in charitable bequests (-23.9%), foundation grant-making (-8.9%), donations to foundations (-8%), and contributions to "public-society benefit organizations," such as the United Way (-4.6%).

Two more interesting facts:

• Contrary to common assumptions, corporate giving accounts for a small portion of overall donations — only 4%.
• Almost half of all giving comes from just 10% of the population — those with a household income higher than $100,000. (Related: part of SMI's mission statement is "We want to help you have more so you can give more"!)

A word on the report's methodology: the Giving USA study is based on estimates, not concrete numbers. "We use estimating methods developed by experts in philanthropy, statistics, and economics to project what household tax returns and IRS Form-990s submitted by nonprofits will show two or more years down the road, after the Internal Revenue Service completes its analyses," Giving USA says.

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