Report finds '05 disasters spurred giving

Charitable giving increased last year, propelled by a series of huge natural disasters at home and abroad, according to an annual report on philanthropy released today. Individuals and institutions gave away an estimated $260.28 billion in 2005, a 2.7 percent increase on an inflation-adjusted basis over the prior year.

Giving for disaster relief accounted for about 3 percent of the total, according to the Giving USA Foundation, an educational and research program of the American Association of Fundraising Counsel, which together with the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University publishes the annual report.

From December 2004 to October 2005, an estimated $7.37 billion was donated to address the ravages of natural disasters, with individuals accounting for a majority of the gifts. The American Red Cross alone received $2.4 billion to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, and the Salvation Army took in $363 million, more than three times what it raised through its annual holiday Red Kettle Campaign.

Without disaster-related philanthropy, however, giving would have been flat. The stock market increased only modestly last year, and personal incomes fell for the second year in a row.

"The economic factors we saw last year led us to expect giving would be flatter," said Richard T. Jolly, chairman of Giving USA and a fund-raising consultant. "Instead, people gave over and above what we expected in response to the disasters."

The trend was echoed among corporations, whose giving jumped 18.5 percent, adjusted for inflation, to $13.77 billion. Many companies enjoyed record profits last year, which they shared with disaster victims and relief groups.

Jolly said it was impossible to know what impact special tax breaks intended to stimulate charitable giving had on philanthropy over all. Congress allowed taxpayers to take deductions in 2004 for donations made in January 2005 for the victims of the tsunami that devastated large areas of Southeast Asia.

Jolly and other fund-raising experts said that heightened awareness of the human toll of disasters might have helped reverse a three-year decline in giving to nonprofit organizations that provide after-school programs, housing for the homeless, substance abuse programs, and other human services.

Contributions to those charities increased 11.3 percent, when adjusted for inflation, before adding in the disaster-related part.

Almost 60 percent of the charities responding to the survey reported receiving more donations last year, the highest percentage since 2000.