2014 Giving USA Report

Trends in Philanthropy

Introduction

Giving USA was founded in 1935 and work to provide accurate estimates and trend data on charitable giving in United States of America. The main mission of Giving USA is to provide education and participation of member firms in the delivery of counseling and other related services to nonprofits through research, counseling, advocacy, and practices. The Giving USA and its member firms have embraced the values of leadership, excellence and ethics, in promoting philanthropy. My report focuses on 2014 Giving USA report and I will present the key findings. Americans gave an estimated $358.38 billion to charitable organizations in 2014.This figure, is the largest seen before the Great Recession. The total donation

The 2014 total jumped 7.1 percent in current dollars and 5.4 percent when inflation-adjusted over the revised estimate of $339.94 billion that Americans donated in 2013.In addition 2014 marked the fifth year in a row where giving went up. All four sources that comprise total giving, individuals (72 percent of the total); corporations (5 percent); foundations (15 percent); and bequests (8 percent) upped their 2014 donations to America’s 1-million-plus charities. Drueke. J (2014) describes, "With virtually every economic indicator that gets measured showing growth, I think it's safe to conclude they played a large part in making 2014 a banner year for giving from every source"(Para 4). 70% of participating Arts charities reported an increase in gifts received in 2014, compared with 2013. 55% of arts organizations have seen growth in charitable gifts.56% of

For example, In the report there are several very large gifts greater than $200 million, a few were greater than $500 million and one was nearly $2 billion in 2014.Individual earning less money also donated millions of dollars. The majority of these gifts were given by relatively young tech entrepreneurs. These gifts are high-impact and are addressing many critical issues of our time, particularly medical research. The 5.7 percent more that individuals donated in 2014 over 2013 accounted for 58 percent of last year’s total growth in giving. Not only did total giving by foundations grow 8.2 percent in 2014, gifts from all three types, of community, independent and operating, also went up. Dustin J (2013) "The best fundraising campaign is those that tap into a variety of funding sources"(P.6). One finding that interest me is that international donations. According to the report, giving to international affairs, shows decline. Donors appear to be increasing their attention to domestic causes in recent years, and because of that giving to international affairs in 2014 have been affected. This is not a good news. Organizations that are raising funds for international donations need to look at their fundraising strategies and be able to increase their fund for the coming years, otherwise, the declined of funds for international affairs will heavily affect the lives of millions of people