May 5, 2010 | Read Time: 1 minute
The economy’s improvement is finally making itself felt in philanthropy, as one of the nation’s biggest charities on Wednesday reported an unprecedented increase in donations made in recent months.
The Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, the third largest organization on The Chronicle’s Philanthropy 400 survey of the nation’s most successful fund-raising organizations, reported that contributions rose to $270-million in the first quarter of this year—up 109 percent over the same period in 2009.
It was the best first quarter for fund raising at Fidelity since the charitable fund was founded in 1991. The gift fund enables donors to set up charitable giving accounts and help make grants from them.
Fidelity said that the number of new accounts established in the first quarter of this year grew by 145 percent compared with the same period last year.
Forty-six percent of contributions to Fidelity from January though March were made in stock, a sign that the stock market’s increases are now beginning to influence giving decisions . That’s up from just 27 percent in the first quarter of 2009.
