Wealthy Americans cut back on giving in 2009
Wealthy philanthropists drew the purse strings tightest on health organizations, where the average gift dropped 63.7 percent.
Wealthy philanthropists drew the purse strings tightest on health organizations, where the average gift dropped 63.7 percent.
Study conducted by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University shows 98 percent of high net-worth households donated to charity in 2009, but the overall amount fell nearly 35 percent from 2007.
Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy says its program is the only one in the country that focuses on philanthropy,
as opposed to the more technical not-for-profit management offered by other universities.
The findings may come as a surprise to not-for-profit executives who think the Internet generation doesn’t require a
personal touch.
People who raise money for a living are more optimistic about their prospects now than they were six months ago, reports
the Center on Philanthropy at IUPUI.
Most fund-raisers stumble into the profession, but within a decade the field could be populated by recent college graduates
who hold degrees in philanthropic studies.The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University soon will roll out a bachelor’s
degree that would be among the first of its kind. If all goes as planned, IUPUI would begin marketing the degree, granted
by the School of Liberal Arts, for the fall of 2010.
The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University found in a recent study of more than 4,840 charitable gifts worth $1 million
or more that self-made wealthy people gave the most —
often to nonprofits that rarely receive such large gifts.