Americans donated $260.3-billion to charity last year, an increase of 2.7 percent after inflation, according to estimates released on Monday by Giving USA, the annual tally of American philanthropy.
About half of the $15-billion increase from 2004 — some $7.4-billion — was given in response to three natural disasters: the Indonesian tsunamis, the Gulf Coast hurricanes, and the earthquake in Pakistan.
The report said that when disaster gifts are excluded from the tally, donations to charity were about even with 2004. That suggests that the disasters did not cause people to cut back their giving to other causes last year.
"People responded over and above what we might otherwise have seen, given the economy and personal income remaining flat and not a whole lot of movement in the stock market," said Richard T. Jolly, chairman of the Giving USA Foundation, which publishes the report.
The amount donated last year nearly equaled the all-time high reported by Giving USA of $260.5-billion in 2000, which marked the height of the technology boom.
Contributions from individuals, including charitable bequests, accounted for more than 83 percent of total giving in 2005. Donations from living Americans grew by 2.9 percent, to $199.1-billion. But bequests dropped by 8.6 percent to $17.4-billion, reflecting what the researchers said was a "steep decline" in the number of deaths over the last two years.
Corporate giving, including grants from corporate foundations, increased substantially, by 18.5 percent, to $13.8-billion.
Much of the increase came from an estimated $1.4-billion in cash, products, and services given by companies in response to last year's disasters; without those gifts, corporate donations would have increased by 7.3 percent. Giving USA attributed the rise in corporate giving to strong growth in the gross domestic product, which rose 3.5 percent last year, and an increase in before-tax corporate profits.
Grants from private, community, and operating foundations rose by 2.1 percent to $30-billion.
However, while giving was up overall, some parts of the nonprofit world fared much better than others last year:
Social services. Donations to human-services organizations rose by 28 percent, to $25.4-billion. The gains came after three years in which giving had declined. The increase was largely fueled by efforts to aid disaster victims, but even when disaster-relief donations are not counted, contributions still rose by 11.3 percent. Several fund raisers attributed the big increase to the fact that Hurricane Katrina made donors aware of the need to help poor people nationwide, not just those harmed by the hurricanes.
International. Contributions to charities that work internationally rose by 15.6 percent, to $6.39-billion, largely because of an estimated $1.1-billion in disaster-relief contributions. Without the disaster donations, giving to international groups fell by 5.1 percent.
Environment. Groups that work on environmental issues, including animal welfare, raised $8.9-billion, an increase of 12.6 percent. About $30-million went to rescue pets after the Gulf Coast hurricanes, but even when that is not counted, contributions to environmental groups rose by 12.2 percent. The double-digit percentage increases may reflect donors' growing concern over issues such as global warming, fund raisers say.
Education. Gifts to colleges, universities, and other educational organizations rose by 9.4 percent, to $38.6-billion.
Religion and "public society benefit" causes. Religious and "public-society benefit organizations," such as United Ways and Jewish federations, achieved increases of less than 5 percent, raising $93.2-billion and $14-billion, respectively.
Two types of charities, arts and cultural groups and health organizations, suffered declines in contributions. Giving to arts groups dropped by 6.6 percent, while donations to health causes declined by 0.7 percent.
The complete Giving USA 2006 report will be available in late June and may be ordered by calling (847) 375-4709 or by downloading an order form from the Giving USA Web site (http://www.givingusa.org). The report is available in print and electronic versions at a cost ranging from $70 to $130.
A detailed article on the findings of this report, plus The Chronicle's look at how giving in 2006 is faring, will appear in the next issue of the newspaper and will be posted online on June 26.