Charitable giving in US tops $400 billion for first time

[jimnyc]

And it's more than just the richest folks and corporations. When something bad happens, whether domestic or foreign, when a fund raiser of some sorts is started, America becomes very generous and helpful. I'm confident that other nations are generous as well, but it's generally the USA that comes through helping others time and time again.

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Charitable giving in US tops $400 billion for first time

NEW YORK (AP) — Fueled by a surging stock market and huge gifts from billionaires, charitable giving in the United States in 2017 topped the $400 billion mark for the first time, according to the latest comprehensive report on Americans’ giving patterns.

The Giving USA report, released Tuesday, said giving from individuals, estates, foundations and corporations reached an estimated $410 billion in 2017 — more than the gross domestic product of countries such as Israel and Ireland. The total was up 5.2 percent in current dollars (3 percent adjusted for inflation) from the estimate of $389.64 billion for 2016.

“Americans’ record-breaking charitable giving in 2017 demonstrates that even in divisive times our commitment to philanthropy is solid,” said Aggie Sweeney, chair of Giving USA Foundation, which publishes the annual report. It is researched and written by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

Giving increased to eight of the nine charitable sectors identified by Giving USA. The only decline was for areas related to international affairs.

The biggest increase was in giving to foundations — up 15.5 percent. That surge was driven by large gifts from major philanthropists to their own foundations — including $1 billion from Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell and his wife, Susan, and $2 billion from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.

Other sectors with increases of more than 6 percent included education, health, arts and culture, environment and animal welfare, and public-society benefit organizations — groups which work on such issues as voter education, civil rights, civil liberties and consumer rights.

Rest - https://apnews.com/84a9d91f4ff749398dd634dc10ff5938

[FakeNewsSux]

This is what particularly galls me about the Democrat Party. Constantly calling for new government programs and higher taxes to fix the latest societal ill when in reality, the American people are already taking care of it. The American people have been and will continue to be the most charitable people on the face of the earth. After years of propaganda by the progressives as to how heartless and selfish Americans are and their attempts to destroy religious influence in all corners of the country, the true selfless, caring nature of the American people continues to shine through. And THAT is why I am proud to be an American.

This brought to mind this gem from my high school years, enjoy: