Charted: The long decline of charity
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Here, in one chart from Giving USA, is the decline of charity — the flip side of the rise of philanthropy.
Why it matters: As I wrote last year, charities like to say that "every penny counts." In reality, small-dollar donations have never mattered less.
- Increasingly, it's a small number of ultra-high net worth individuals, alongside even fewer old money foundations, who determine whether charities thrive or wither away.
By the numbers: The amount that Americans gave to charity dropped last year by $17.3 billion. The amount given by corporations went up, as did bequests and giving by foundations. But giving by individuals fell, by $21.9 billion, hence the overall decline.
Between the lines: Even within the world of individual giving there's a move away from the model of raising small sums from many households and toward a much more targeted strategy of cultivating very rich donors — or at least the kind of people who still itemize their taxes and can claim the charitable tax deduction.
The bottom line: Now more than ever, the purse strings of the charitable sector are controlled by the rich and powerful.
