When the going gets tough, the tough give
America’s historic spirit of generosity just keeps on finding fresh openings. Take, for example, a surge in private donations to public broadcasting after recent federal cuts. About 120,000 Americans have so far given some $20 million to national and local public media.
“We’re relying enthusiastically on the support from our community,” Jenn Gordon, head of WTVP in Peoria, Illinois, told Crain’s Chicago Business. “We’re looking to the community, and we’re just very grateful.”
Such a surge fits recent patterns in donations.
Last year, individual giving, which is by far the largest portion, rose 5%, according to the most recent Giving USA report. Private giving to charities went up 3.3% over the previous year, after adjusting for inflation.
“People are ready to give if they’re invited,” Woodrow Rosenbaum, chief data officer of GivingTuesday, told The NonProfit Times.
Total giving reached a record $592.5 billion, or about 2% of gross national product. Giving by business was the highest in four decades.
Despite the pandemic, high inflation, and budget cuts, “The fundamentals of giving are still working like they historically have in the U.S.,” said Jon Bergdoll, managing director for Giving USA.
Under budget cuts and changes to the federal tax code, types of giving as well as the amounts given might shift. Higher donations, for instance, are expected to flow to nonprofit scholarship-granting organizations. New rules for taking tax deductions could shift giving up or down, according to experts.
“Individual giving is the one constant force for philanthropy through good and lean times,” Gretchen Littlefield, head of the marketing, data, and fundraising firm Moore, told The NonProfit Times. “The growth in individual giving is a powerful reminder that generosity remains deeply rooted in our culture, but it doesn’t happen by accident.”
Globally, as well as in the United States, it is difficult to tally the total amount of private giving.
“We may not always be able to count the impact of a shared meal, a borrowed blanket, or a spontaneous act of kindness, but we must learn to value it,” wrote Francis Bahene Tumwekwasize, communications manager at South Sudan Grassroots Initiative for Development, in Alliance magazine.
“Because in places where systems fail, humanity survives through the philanthropy of ordinary people.”
