"It is impressive that giving continued to rise in 2006, especially following the unprecedented levels of disaster giving in 2005," said Richard T. Jolly, chair of Giving USA Foundation. "America's 1.4 million charitable and religious organizations provide a huge range of services that improve lives, from meeting immediate needs to funding medical research or creating endowments to assure the future of arts or educational institutions."
The record-setting gift amount includes $1.9 billion that Warren Buffett paid in 2006 as the first installment on his 20-year pledge of more than $30 billion to four foundations and also includes donations from hundreds of millions of Americans, as well as gifts from charitable bequests, foundations and corporations. "While headlines focus on 'mega-gifts,' they represented 1.3 percent of the total, "said George C. Ruotolo Jr., CFRE, chair of Giving Institute: Leading Consultants to Non-Profits, parent organization of the Foundation. "About 65 percent of households with incomes lower than $100,000 give to charity. That is higher than the percentage who vote or read a Sunday newspaper.
Giving by individuals is always the largest single source of donations, according to the report. It rose by 4.4 percent. (1.2 percent adjusted for inflation) to an estimated $222.89 billion and accounts for 75.6 percent of all estimated giving in 2006. Charitable bequests are estimated in 2006 to be $22.91 billion, a 2.1 percent drop (-5.1 percent adjusted for inflation) from the revised value for 2005, which is based on IRS records and is now $23.40 billion. New IRS information about 2005 shows a very large change in giving by the wealthiest estates. Charitable bequests in 2006 are 7.8 percent of the estimated total.
Foundation grantmaking, as recorded by the Foundation Center and reported in Giving USA, rose 12.6 percent (9.1 percent adjusted for inflation) to $36.5 billion. The increase was because of growth in the number of foundations and because the stock market rose very rapidly in 2006. Foundations make grants based in part on the value of their assets, and when asset values rise quickly, grantmaking increases. Foundation giving accounts for 12.4 percent of total estimated charitable giving in 2006. Donations by corporations and corporate foundations are estimated to be $12.72 billion in 2006. This is a decline of 7.6 percent (-10.5 percent adjusted for inflation). The decline reflects the extraordinary gifts in 2005 for disaster relief as well as a slow-down in the rate of growth for non- disaster-related corporate giving.
Without the 2005 disaster relief gifts included, corporate giving is estimated to have increased 1.5 percent in 2006 (a drop of 1.7 percent when adjusted for inflation). 2006 estimates of giving by type of recipient Charitable gifts benefit at least nine different types of charities, with religious congregations receiving an estimated 32.8 percent of the total. In 2006, the highest growth rate was in arts, culture and humanities organizations, which saw a change of 9.9 percent. This is the largest change in this subsector since 2000. Arts, culture, and humanities giving reached an estimated $12.51 billion in 2006. The new estimate is based on revised historical data from IRS Forms 990.
Giving to education rose an estimated 9.8 percent, to $40.98 billion, based on the Giving USA survey and data collected by the Council for Aid to Education. Gifts to education are 13.9 percent of total estimated giving in 2006. Gifts to foundations showed the next-highest rate of growth, increasing an estimated 7.4 percent. This estimate is based on information from the Foundation Center about giving to foundations in 2005. For 2006, the Foundation Center and Giving USA estimate contributions made to foundations of $29.50 billion. About $3.5 billion of that amount is estimated fair-market value of medical supplies and medicines donated to a dozen operating foundations created by pharmaceutical firms and medical products manufacturers. Gifts to foundations are an estimated 10.0 percent of total estimated giving for 2006.
Two subsectors saw a decline in the amount received in 2006, in large part because the donations to those categories in 2005 included billions of\ dollars for disaster relief. Giving to human services dropped an estimated 9.2 percent (-12.0 percent adjusted for inflation), to $29.56 billion. Giving to organizations in the international affairs subsector fell an estimated 9.2 percent (-12.0 percent adjusted for inflation) in 2006, to $11.34 billion. In both cases, the 2006 estimate is based on historical data from IRS Forms 990.
