Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sundubuman]

chicagotribune.com >> Breaking news
Banner year for charity, report says
U.S. giving hit a record $260 billion in 2005

By Charles Storch
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 19, 2006, 12:17 AM CDT

A record outpouring of donations in 2005 to victims of natural calamities did not exhaust and may have inspired charity to the everyday needy and dispossessed, according to a report released Monday.

Giving USA, a standard reference on philanthropy, said that giving to all charitable causes by American individuals, corporations and foundations rose by 6.1 percent, to $260.28 billion, in 2005 from 2004's level. Adjusted for inflation, the increase was 2.7 percent, which marked the best showing since 2000.

Accounting for half the latest advance was $7.37 billion in disaster relief�a best guess of the money, goods and services provided for victims of South Asia's tsunami in late 2004 and earthquake last October and the U.S. hurricanes last summer and fall. Excluding disaster relief, charitable giving rose 3.2 percent, but was off 0.2 percent when adjusted for inflation.

"It would have been a fairly healthy [nominal] increase without the disaster figures added in," said Eugene Tempel, executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, which crunched the data for the report's publisher, Glenview-based Giving USA Foundation. "The question is whether that disaster giving will be picked up in other parts of the non-profit sector in 2006."

Tempel said the plight of disaster victims may have sensitized many donors to needs in their communities and in poor nations. He noted a substantial jump in giving last year to human-services organizations�groups that run the gamut from youth-recreation leagues to the American Red Cross. It is a sector, Tempel said, that usually "lags in good times and does even worse in bad times" compared with other causes.

Giving to such groups rose by 32.3 percent, to $25.36 billion, in 2005, the report said. Excluding disaster funds, the increase was 15 percent.

Peter Fissinger, senior vice president at Campbell & Co., a Chicago-based consulting firm for non-profits, said such organizations may have been due for a strong showing after three straight weak years. But he believed, too, that "last year's disasters, especially Hurricane Katrina, brought the human-services mission to the forefront of people's minds."

The report should put to rest speculation that vast contributions to disaster victims would sap donations to other causes.

"Disaster relief was enhanced giving and typically did not come at the expense of other giving, with the possible exception of arts and cultural groups," said Jimmie Alford, chairman of Evanston's Alford Group Inc., a consultant to non-profits.

The report found that giving for arts and culture fell last year by a real 6.6 percent, to $13.51 billion, after a 3.9 percent rise in 2004. Giving for health care has been weak in recent years and was again in 2005, slipping by a real 0.7 percent, to $22.54 billion.

Corporate donations to all causes climbed by an inflation-adjusted 18.5 percent, to a record $13.77 billion, after a 1 percent drop in 2004. The 2005 rise was attributed to disaster giving as well as growth in the economy and corporate profits.

Alford said the pace of corporate giving likely would slow in 2006. Fissinger said other giving could be restrained if the stock market doesn't recover from its funk. But both were hopeful for a solid 2006.

[email protected]

[sundubuman]

is this too reality-based for this whacked out forum? (only numbers no theories)

Maybe it's much more rewarding to post anti-American crap on the web than it is to actually volunteer time or money to solve problems {?????}

Apparently, according to the article, Americans aren't waiting for global love and approval. There's too much work to do.

[ddeubel]

[sundubuman]

I think the US government is the most charitable in the world, and no, I'm not talking about overseas aid.

The US pays the biggest chunk of the UN budget and despite what you may think of US foreign policy, the hundreds of billions in military spending that US taxpayers pay to keep international trade flowing and people like Kim Jong-Il contained probably has a greater effect on world economic growth and reducing poverty than most of international charity put together.

And don't forget the thousands of lives saved in disasters in countries that generally hate the US (Pakistan, Indonesia) mainly through the use of the US military.

If it wasn't for the US military, this entire forum might never have existed, as Korea would have been united under the glorious leadership of the Kim clan.

So if you've ever made a living while teaching English in South Korea, thank the Pentagon.

[bignate]

Charity is a great thing....but think of the reasoning behind it, think of where it came from......as a relief for the poor, but why, why is there poor? Because one person or people are naturally less useful or productive......no

The present economic situation rests it's success on efficiency rather than it's effectivity.....

sundubuman, you claim

[khyber]