Like everything about 2020, the story of charitable giving is more than a little complicated.
Most of the numbers have a story behind them that significantly changes how we understand recent changes in the nonprofit sector.
Cae in point: At first glance 2020 was a great year for philanthropic donations in the US. Giving rose to $471.4 billion, according to the recently released “Giving USA” report — a 3.8 percent increase from estimated giving in 2019.
However, it’s only an increase because of one person: MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, who has promised to give away the majority of her fortune within her lifetime. Scott donated nearly $6 billion in 2020, and if you take away her donations, then giving in 2020 actually declined by about 0.8 percent.
Her donations comprised nearly 69 percent of all philanthropy in 2020, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Here’s a few other interesting facts about charitable giving in 2020.
Corporate Giving Declined
Philanthropy declined for many industries profoundly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Overall, giving by corporations went down by 7.3 percent last year, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
“Corporate giving is highly responsive to changes in businesses’ pre-tax profits and gross domestic product, both of which declined last year,” the Chronicle said. “Transportation, retail, and hospitality were hard hit while technology and financial services had extraordinary years.”
Employee giving programs also declined with conventional forms of in-person fundraising and the total absence of most volunteer activities due to stay-at-home orders and social distancing measures.
Giving Declines in Canada As Well
It’s not all about the USA. Although Canadians understand that the pandemic quickly increased demand for charitable services, overall donations still fell, according to two studies from
Imagine Canada, an organization that represents charities.
According to Imagine Canada’s research, 68 percent of charities saw a decline in donations from the beginning of the pandemic. At the same time, the demand for services trended upward as 46 percent of charities reported an increase in demand as well as a 35 percent surge in requests for assistance.
“As a result, Charities are being stretched to do more even though their service capacities have either declined or remained about the same,” the report said.
This has been evidenced by many charities deciding to curb their operations, including WE Charity, one of the biggest charities in the country.
WE Charity announced in September 2020 that it would suspend all Canadian operations, largely because of changes wrought by the pandemic.
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The Cost of Covid-19
Not only did the pandemic create obstacles for corporate donations and increase service demands, it also resulted in additional costs for navigating the social distancing requirements of the pandemic.
A survey of UK charities showed that two-thirds of all its nonprofit organizations saw increased operating costs in 2020.
The UK is home to about 165,000 charities with a total turnover of £48 billion.
According to an article from CMI, The Children’s Trust, which supports children with brain injuries, spent £160,000 on personal protective equipment and Covid tests in the last year.
“That’s a huge amount of money but now thankfully we are back on track to deliver our strategic objectives that we launched just before Covid arrived,” said Dalton Leong, chief executive of The Children’s Trust.
As charities move forward from the pandemic, many will have to adapt to a world permanently changed by the effects of the pandemic.
