Shared from the Chronicle of Philanthropy

For the second year in a row, charitable giving barely grew, rising by just 0.9 percent after inflation in 2011, according to today’s release of “Giving USA,” the annual yearbook of American philanthropy. The study estimated that the total donated was $298.4-billion as compared to $290.98-billion in 2010.

The glacial pace of the economic recovery caused “Giving USA” researchers to make a far gloomier forecast about when a full recovery in charitable giving will occur.
“If we continue to grow at this rate, it will take more than a decade to get back to where we were in total giving in 2007,” said Patrick Rooney, executive director of the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, which compiles “Giving USA.”

Last year Mr. Rooney predicted that a recovery in giving could occur by 2016; now, given current conditions, he says it will more likely be 2022.