Recent Giving Trends

The fundraising landscape is always changing, especially in this volatile economy. Here are some recent giving trends that were released in the 2011 Giving USA Report:

• Giving to arts, culture, and humanities fell 8.7 percent.
• Education fell 8.8 percent.
• Religious giving increased by 0.1 percent.
• International Affairs organizations received 7.2 percent more donations.
• Human Services groups saw an increase in donations by 10.4 percent.

There a couple of things of note about these numbers. The first is that the organizations that saw an increase in donations typically provided immediate services. This is certainly the case with Human Services. International affairs saw growth even before any of the recent natural disasters, which reflects that there has been an increased interest in the missions of these groups.