Giving to public­society benefit 12

Gifts to public­society benefit organizations reached an estimated $23.88 billion in 2008.

This reflects an increase of 5. 4 percent since 2007 ( 1. 5 percent adjusted for inflation).

Public­society benefit giving is 8 percent of total giving.

The public­society benefit sector includes organizations that raise funds to redistribute to a wide range of charities (United Way, Jewish federations, Combined Federal Campaign, and others) that promote philanthropy and volunteerism, or that conduct research in the biological, physical, and social sciences, including public policy research. Other causes or purposes included in this subsector include: community and economic development, civil liberties and civil rights, voter education, and consumer protection.

 

Giving USA findings for giving to public-society benefit organizations, 2008 The estimate for the change in giving to organizations in the public­society benefit subsector is based on the historical relationship between giving to public­society benefit charities and other broader economic trends. Specifically, the estimate looks at changes in personal income, changes in wealth as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index, and changes in giving in the recent past.

Giving USA will revise the estimates of giving to public­society benefit and all other subsectors as more data become available. The final figures will be based on data compiled from IRS Forms 990 by the National Center for Charitable Statistics.

Trends in public-society benefit
giving, 1968–2006
In prior recession years, giving to
public­society benefit organizations

averaged an inflation­adjusted change of 3. 9 percent from the prior year, although the range was from a drop of 29 percent (1973) to an increase of 29 percent (1974). Giving to this subsector increased (adjusted for inflation) in eight of the eleven reces­ sion years between 1968 and 2006.1

Using a standardized measure of giving to public­society benefit organizations allows us to compare contributions to this subsector over time. One standard measure is to estimate giving per household. To do this, the sum of contributions from all sources (not just households) is divided by the number of households in the country. Table 1 shows the results for giving to the public­society benefit sector since 1988. IRS Forms 990 are used as the basis of estimation of giving to charitable subsectors.