5 Interesting Facts from the Giving USA 2011 Report

The Giving USA 2011 report is out and the team at The Giving USA Foundation and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University have given plenty of data and statistics to sift through.

I’ve pulled out five interesting facts that might get overlooked in all the fuss about the high level findings.

1. Total charitable giving has increased in current dollars in every year since tracking began in 1954 with the exception of three: 1987, 2008, and 2009.

2. Total charitable giving was 2% of Gross Domestic Product in 2010 and this is a decline from the level of 2.3% seen in 2000 and 2005.

3. There are 1,280,739 registered 501(c)(3) organizations with the Internal Revenue Service. But in June 2011, 275,000 nonprofit organizations lost their tax-exempt status for failure to file legally required documents for three consecutive years.

4. Family foundations provided approximately 48% of all grants by independent, community, and operating foundations in 2010.

5. The largest pledged gift in 2010 was $250 million worth of art and furniture from George M. and Linda H. Kaufman to the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C..

One more interesting finding in the Giving USA report: Giving in support of cleanup and restoration efforts for the BP oil spill did not have a significant impact on overall giving to the environmental and animal organizations subsector. This is especially thought provoking considering the tremendous amount of giving toward international relief efforts in 2010.

Get a copy of  Giving USA 2011: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the year 2010. It’s well worth the $75 cost.