Some experts predict that, when the next Giving USA tally of philanthropy comes out in a few weeks, the research will show another drop in giving for 2009, on top of a record decline in 2008.
Not Bob Hartsook. The Kansas City, Mo., fund-raising consultant projects that giving actually increased last year by about 2 percent, because, he writes, “2009 was the year that it was embarrassing to be successful.” As a result, he says, many large gifts were not reported or acknowledged last year.
He cites three big donations he knows about personally that aren’t being reported, including an $80-million gift last year from a Southern family whose holdings include a company that has laid off people and frozen salaries because of the recession.
If that gift had been reported publicly, notes Mr. Hartsook, it would have been the 12th largest gift on The Chronicle‘s Philanthropy 50 list of biggest contributions in 2009. But the family, he writes, didn’t think it was the right time to announce such a large gift because of what he calls the “wealth shame” factor.
Do you think Mr. Hartsook has a point? Is there a big surge of gifts not being reported because donors don’t want to broadcast their success in hard times? And if so, is it big enough to offset economy-related declines in giving?
0 Responses to A ‘Silent Giving’ Phenomenon?
ppcllc - May 4, 2010 at 4:58 pm
I can’t tell you whether Bob Hartsook’s math is accurate, but he’s correct about the phenomenon of unreported gifts, good economy or bad. I’ve been advising philanthropic individuals and families since 1977, to the tune of well over $2.5 billion in charitable gifts, and would conservatively estimate that 20 to 25% were not reported, for a variety of reasons, of which “wealth shame” is probably the least prominent.Jeff Steele
kevin_johnson - May 4, 2010 at 5:06 pm
A recent private event in my community netted a record multi-million dollar amount. The room was electric and the bidding for high value items was fierce. Outside in different venues, I heard some of these same bidders complain about the economy and how they were having to “cut back”. There are a lot of gifts being made. However, it’s much less acceptable to show wealth in public, but the reverse in private. A number of groups with whom I work experienced solid fundraising results. One just reported their annual event was almost 67% up over last year. I think Bob Hartsook is right in that there is the “shame factor” in play. Perhaps you recall the comedian who asked his skeptical wife: “who’re you going to believe, me or your lyin’ eyes.” What are nonprofits boards to believe as they make budget decisions for the future? Kevin Johnsonwww.RetrieverDevelopment.comhttp://growingsocialprofit.blogspot.com/