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| August 14, 2003 Across the country, average Americans are getting a bad wrap from liberal politicians, newspaper editorial writers and leaders of publicly funded nonprofits. In states where taxpayers and lawmakers have stood up and said “no” to tax increases and “yes” to spending restraint, there has been an often repeated charge that taxpaying Americans are becoming cheap, selfish, or uncaring. The same charges have been made in Washington in relation to the President’s push for tax relief. But a recently released study by the American Association of Fundraising Counsel (AAFRC) Trust for Philanthropy shows Americans are voluntarily parting with more of their own money than every before, and doing so in spite of the recent slow economy. Leading the way are traditional taxpayers such as individuals and corporations. Falling behind are non-taxpaying, nonprofit foundations. According to the Giving USA report, Americans in 2002 gave away a record $241 billion, a one percent increase from the previous year. Broken down by givers: • Giving by individuals in 2002 is estimated to have increased 0.7 percent, to $183.73 billion. Giving by individuals represents 76.3 percent of all giving estimated for 2002. • Giving by corporations in 2002 is estimated to have grown by 10.5 percent to $12.19 billion, from a revised estimate of $11.03 billion for 2001. Giving by corporations is 5.1 percent of all estimated giving in 2002. • Giving through bequests in 2002 is estimated to have increased 2 percent to $18.1 billion. Gifts through bequests represent 7.5 percent of the 2002 total estimated giving. • Giving by foundations in 2002 is reported by the Foundation Center to show an estimated decrease of 1.2 percent, at $26.9 billion for grantmaking by independent, community, and operating foundations. Grantmaking by foundations represents 11.2 percent of all estimated giving in 2002. So why is it that so many taxpaying Americans seem to be giving more to charity, but are increasingly opposed to tax increases? One reason might be that they seem to have different priorities for where their money should be spent. In terms of dollars received, the Giving USA report ranks the 2002 charitable recipients as follows: Religion: 35.0% Education 13.1% Unallocated: 12.6% Foundations: 9.1% Health: 7.8% Human Services: 7.7% Arts/Humanities: 5.1% Public/Soc. Benefit: 4.8% Environment/animals: 2.7% International affairs: 1.9% To read the full report, go to the American Association of Fundraising Counsel. Darrell McKigney President, Small Business Survival Committee |
