Charitable Giving in a Recession

A new report, based on the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy‘s Individual Giving Model (IGM), estimates that individual charitable giving was down 4.9% percent in 2009. The model incorporates measures of household net worth and income, and as such provides an informative picture of household economics during the recession. The report’s authors also point out the model has certain limitations — namely that it fails to account for psychological and social factors that affect giving: “On the positive side, people may give more because they empathize with those with increased need in a bad economy. On the negative side, people may give less because they are anxious about their own, their families’ and perhaps their workers’ financial well-being.” [%comments]