By Diane Stafford
Religious organizations received 31 percent of the $335.17 billion worth of American philanthropy last year, by far the biggest slice of the charitable giving pie.
But that nonprofit sector shouldn’t rest easy, says Patrick Rooney, chief researcher for the annual Giving USA report on philanthropy released (last month). Religion’s share of total donations has been steadily shrinking compared with other nonprofit sectors.
Rooney met with about 160 representatives from the Kansas City nonprofit community for a data dive into the distribution of 2013 donations. He noted that the recession, generational differences and political trends were changing the sources, amounts and distribution of charitable dollars.
Nationally, charitable giving rose about 3 percent from 2012, adjusted for inflation. At that recovery rate, it will be a least another year before total giving returns to its 2007 pre-recession peak, according to the report.
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