The Year in Giving, Told Through Photographs

Charity officials have long relied on Giving USA to provide tallies of how much Americans give to charity.

Its annual report presents pages and pages of statistical data on the state of philanthropy. This year, however, the report also presents a real picture of how charitable money is put to work by American nonprofit organizations.

The Giving USA Foundation held a photo contest seeking images that would capture the essence of charitable giving and the winners will appear on the cover of the publication, as well as throughout its pages.

More than 95 photographs were submitted, most of them focusing on the efforts that charities made to help people recover from the torrent of natural disasters around the world. The winning photograph was taken by S. Michael Bisceglie, and shows a smiling girl holding an umbrella, sitting atop a container of relief goods. On these pages are several of the other entries.