Thursday, October 11, 2012

Top 10 Biggest Gifts to Charity Fell in 2010

For the second straight year, big charitable donations are down from both individuals and their foundations. According to a report in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, the 10 largest gifts from Americans to charitable organizations fell from $2.7 billion in 2009 to $1.3 billion in 2010. The drop from 2008 to 2009 was far more precipitous: donations for 2008 totaled $8 billion.

The Chronicle editor Stacy Palmer explained to AdvisorOne that there’s a “quirkiness” about the end-of-year cutoff when calculating the amount of charitable donations. Since giving is made up of a mix of donors who prefer to see the results of their actions, thus making their gifts while they are alive, and others who choose to leave bequests in their wills, she added, “it could be many, many years until we see [those funds from the latter group] going to charity.”

Last year missed being the worst for giving by the wealthiest Americans, but not by much: in the 13 years since The Chronicle began tracking wealthy donors’ gifts, the total fell below $1.4 billion only once before, in 2003, when it was $1.2 billion.

Such low levels of giving come when Warren Buffett (left) and Bill and Melinda Gates have embarked on a mission to convince their billionaire peers to pledge to donate at least half their net worth to charity. “Given that Gates and Buffett have been making this push on the Giving Pledge,” said Palmer, “the gifts [for 2010] were really quite small. So if their goal is to [get the money into circulation,] then people will have to give more quickly and more generously. ... It seems that it’s not going to be a year where there are many very big gifts.”

Four of those who signed the pledge are among those who made the biggest gifts in 2010: oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, who pledged $100 million to Oklahoma State University; Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who pledged that amount to improve the public schools in Newark, N.J.; and Irwin and Joan Jacobs, who pledged $75 million to the University of California at San Diego.

In these hard times, when so many need so much, wealthy donors are putting their money into bricks and mortar—“safe causes,” as Palmer terms them. Nearly half of the wealthiest donors gave funds to build new campus buildings or to expand university campuses. Zuckerberg and Pickens, however, did otherwise; Pickens’ gift is earmarked for scholarships, and Newark faces serious poverty issues; Zuckerberg’s donation will do much to help the city’s struggling schools.

The Chronicle also found that the wealthiest are not as quick to give as those who are less wealthy but still affluent.

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