Economy

Charitable Contributions Drop, But Not Dramatically

Charitable giving reached an estimated $307.65 billion in the United States in 2008 — a 2 percent drop from the previous year. It's the first such decline since 1987, according to the Giving USA Foundation, and only the second since the group began publishing annual reports in 1956. Below is a breakdown of the change in contributions from donors and the change in funds received by charitable groups from 2007 to 2008.

[Bar charts: Charitable donations down, resulting in lower funding to different categories of charitable causes]

Source: Giving USA Foundation

Credit: Alyson Hurt / NPR

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