Americans set charity record

US charitable giving hit a record $295.02 billion in 2006 as Americans topped the philanthropic effort from major disasters a year earlier, a survey showed on Monday.A report by Giving USA Foundation showed a third straight year of charity giving growth fuelled in part by mega-gifts from billionaires life Warren Buffett, but also from mainstream Americans, who donated roughly two per cent of their incomes to various causes.“It is impressive that giving continued to rise in 2006, especially following the unprecedented levels of disaster giving in 2005,” said Richard Jolly, chair of Giving USA Foundation, based at Indiana University.The 2005 total was revised up to $283.05 billion and included some $7.4 billion in disaster relief contributions, following Hurricane Katrina in the United States and the major earthquake in Pakistan in 2005 and the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.The overall increase for the year was 4.2 per cent, or one per cent adjusted for inflation. But if disaster gifts are excluded from the 2005 total, giving in 2006 rose 6.6 per cent.The record-setting gift total in 2006 included $1.9 billion from billionaire Buffett, the world’s third wealthiest individual, in the first installment on a 20-year pledge of more than $30 billion to four foundations.“While headlines focus on ‘mega-gifts’, they represented 1.3 per cent of the total,” said George Ruotolo, chair of the Giving Institute.“About 65 per cent of households with incomes lower than $100,000 give to charity. That is higher than the percentage who vote or read a Sunday newspaper.” “There certainly is a tradition of supporting non-profit organisations in the United States,” Jolly said.The practice of the super-rich creating charitable foundations dates back to early 20th century with industrialists like Andrew Carnegie and John Rockefeller — a tradition continued by Microsoft’s Bill Gates, who persuaded Buffett to make his record grant to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.Donations by corporations and corporate foundations were estimated to be $12.72 billion in 2006, down 7.6 per cent. The report said this reflects the drop off from extraordinary gifts in 2005 for disaster relief.The report said about one-third of the total donations went to religious organisations, about $97 billion.Education grants represented the second largest sector, with 14 per cent of the total or $41 billion.Other key areas included health, arts and culture, environment and animals and international affairs. About $3.5 billion in gifts was the estimated fair-market value of medical supplies