Charitable Giving Set Record in '98, Report Says

Pushed by a healthy economy and the rising stock market, charitable
giving by Americans climbed 11 percent to a record $175 billion last
year, according to estimates in a report made public on Tuesday.

The figures represented the third consecutive year of double-digit
growth and strong gains for many charitable organizations. The only
area that showed a decline was arts, culture and humanities. In
contrast, donations to environmental and wildlife groups and health
and human service organizations grew by 20 percent or more.

"Many people speculate that we're entering the golden age of
philanthropy, and as practitioners, many of us are experiencing that,"
said Jimmie R. Alford, chairman of the American Association of
Fund-Raising Counsel, whose nonprofit arm, the AAFRC Trust for
Philanthropy, publishes the report, Giving USA.

"We're seeing some unprecedented gifts," added Alford, a fund-raising
consultant in Skokie, Ill.

Despite the gains, the new figures are sure to stir debate over how
generous Americans really are. Although charitable giving kept pace
with rising incomes last year, it did not come close to matching the
hefty increases in the stock market in 1998, when the Standard &
Poor's index of 500 stocks rose 27 percent.

"The very top group could be giving 10 times more than they do and not
impair their wealth at all," said Claude Rosenberg, a former
investment adviser in San Francisco who set up the Newtithing Group, a
nonprofit group that encourages people to think of donations in terms
of their wealth, not their income.

Individuals did raise their giving 10 percent last year to $135
billion, according to the 1999 edition of Giving USA. As always,
individuals accounted for most of the giving: 77 percent of the total
in 1998.

Bequests added $13.6 billion, an 8 percent increase.

Giving by foundations showed the biggest gain last year, rising 23
percent to $17 billion. Foundations are required by law to give away
an amount equal to 5 percent of their assets, although they can
measure their assets over a period of years.

Corporate giving, $9 billion, rose 9 percent, and amounted to 1
percent of corporate pretax income in 1998.

While individual giving rose slightly relative to personal income last
year, reaching 1.9 percent for the first time since 1973, officials of
the association acknowledged Tuesday that income might not be as
useful a yardstick as it has been in the past.

"Income is almost beside the point when personal wealth has increased
so sharply," said Nancy L. Raybin, a fund-raiser in New York City and
chairwoman of the AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy.

Paul G. Schervish, director of the Social Welfare Research Institute
at Boston College, called wealthy individuals a sleeping giant for
philanthropy. Schervish said many such people were planning for future
philanthropy through bequests or programs like Fidelity Investments'
Charitable Gifts fund, which lets individuals create tax-deductible
pools of money that function somewhat like personal
foundations.

Ms. Raybin said many individuals also contributed directly to personal
foundations last year. Gifts to foundations totaled $17 billion in
1998, a 16 percent increase, much of it from individuals.

Four other areas of giving showed especially large gains:
environmental and wildlife organizations (up 28 percent to $5.3
billion), human services (up 27 percent to $16.1 billion), health
organizations (up 20 percent to $16.9 billion), and public benefit
organizations, including civil rights, public affairs, consumer
protection and scientific development groups (up 30 percent to $10.9
billion).

The only area of giving that declined was arts, culture and the
humanities, where contributions fell almost 1 percent from the
previous year, to $10.5 billion.

Religion remained the largest area of giving, with $76.1 billion in
donations last year, up about 5 percent from 1997. But while it
represented half of all giving through much of the 1970s and the early
'80s, by last year it made up only 44 percent of charitable giving.

Education represented the second largest area of charitable donations,
with $24.6 billion in gifts, an increase of 11 percent from 1997.