Average Donation by Individuals Fell in 2006
Eighty-three percent of American adults say they have contributed to charity during the past 12 months, although their average donations fell to a total of $1,220 last year from $1,352 in 2005, according to a new poll by The Wall Street Journal Online and Harris Interactive. Donors were most likely…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
Nearly Half of Large Foundations Shun Unrestricted Grants, Study Finds
By Ian WilhelmDespite a growing call for foundations to pay for charities’ operating costs, most grant makers prefer to support specific charitable programs, says a new report. Forty-nine percent of foundation leaders said they are more inclined to make grants solely to support programs, while 16…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Donations to Victims of 2004 Asian Tsunamis Topped $3-Billion
Individuals, corporations, and foundations in the United States donated $3.16-billion to help victims of the December 2004 South Asian tsunamis, according to a new study by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. Most of that money came from individuals, with 25 percent of American…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
Baby Boomers Say They Are Stepping Up Their Donations to Charitable Causes
Baby boomers said they planned to give 25 percent more to charity last year than they did in 2005, with an average donation of $6,000 — higher than that of any other generation, according to a new survey by the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund. The survey found that boomers — people born from 1946 to…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
Many People Want Business to Increase Aid to Society
Major American corporations have made strides in responding to the public’s calls for them to do more to become ALSO SEE: Table: Corporate Good Works: How They are Viewed by the Public “good corporate citizens” — through their philanthropy, employment practices, and general operations — a new…
By BRENNEN JENSEN
Contributor
D.C. Theater Receives $35-Million From Two Trustees; Other Gifts
Thirteen institutions have received big gifts: Arena Stage, in Washington, has received $35-million from Jaylee Montague Mead, a retired associate chief of the Space Data and Computing Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Md., and her husband, Gilbert D. Mead, a retired…
Oil Tycoon Gives $135-Million to Start a Foundation
The oil investor T. Boone Pickens has given $135-million to establish his own philanthropic foundation. Mr. Pickens, who founded an oil company in 1956 and an energy investment firm in 1996, has amassed a fortune that Forbes estimates at $1.5-billion. The 78-year-old oilman has announced his…
By BRENNEN JENSEN
Contributor
2006 Sets Records for Largest Donations From Wealthy Americans
The 2006 giving year was remarkable not just for the landmark pledge by the investment guru Warren ALSO SEE: Table: Biggest Gifts and Pledges Announced by Individuals in 2006 Table: Biggest Grants Announced in 2006 Buffett, who promised in June to donate more than $30-billion to the Bill & Melinda…
Indiana U. Receives $50-Million for Its Cancer Center; Other Recent Gifts
Six institutions have received big gifts: The Indiana University Cancer Center, in Indianapolis, has received $50-million from Melvin Simon, a co-founder and co-chairman of Simon Property Group, a real-estate investment company in Indianapolis, and his wife, Bren, to support cancer research and…
Americans donate a greater share of the country’s economic output to charity than do the residents of 11 other countries, according to a new study. The report, by the Charities Aid Foundation, in Britain, found that giving in the United States equals 1.67 percent of ALSO SEE: Table: How Much…
By Harvy Lipman
Contributor
American Donors Urged to Learn Lessons From Overseas Charities
While modern philanthropy originated in the United States, other parts of the world have developed their own innovative style of giving and commitment to social causes that rivals America’s, a Ford Foundation official told participants at a conference here last month on international grant making.…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
New York Tops List of Most-Generous States, Report Finds
New Yorkers give a larger share of their income to charity than residents of any other state, according to a new study. The report, which takes into account the fact that people living in states with higher costs of living have ALSO SEE: Table: Generosity in the States: Who Gives the Most less…
By Harvy Lipman
Contributor
Gates Foundation Announces That It Doesn’t Plan to Operate Forever
All good things must come to an end, as the saying goes, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is no exception. The foundation, in Seattle, announced last week it had set up a timeline for its eventual closure, as part of changes the fund is making to facilitate the $31-billion pledge the…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Sex, Drugs, and … Charity? Brain Study Finds New Links
The warm glow that many donors get from giving to charity involves the same brain mechanisms that evoke pleasurable sensations after sex, eating good food, and using heroin or other drugs, a new study has found. To examine the interplay of self-interest and altruistic behavior, researchers at the…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
A corporate foundation lets employees guide its philanthropic choicesMany companies encourage their workers to volunteer. But the U.S. philanthropic arm of Credit Suisse, the Swiss investment bank, takes that philosophy one step further: It restricts most of its grants to charities that can provide…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor