Report: Charitable Foundations in Maine are Struggling

Note: This is a summary of an article from an outside news organization.  Please click the links in this post if you want to read the original story.

Giving to Maine charitable organizations saw a serious decline, according to a story in The Bangor Daily News.  The article references a recently released report by the Maine Philanthropic Center, which showed that giving fell nearly 6% (from $133 million to $127 million) between 2008 and 2009.  The center also believes that the philanthropic sector will continue to see poor numbers as people continue to deal with tight budgets because of a down economy.

Here are some other findings from the report:

• Maine foundation assets saw a 10% decrease from 2008 to 2009, despite the fact that these assets increased more than 200% since 2000.
• Despite declines in funding, giving to certain segments of society was actually up between 2008 and 2009.  These areas include human services agencies and arts and humanities.
• Charitable contributions by people in Maine came out at $402 million in 2008.  This was a 16% decrease from the previous year.

So why are these numbers not current?  According to the story, it is because the Center's report relies on IRS tax return data, which takes some time to develop.  You can read the full article by visiting The Bangor Daily News website.