Word Count: 592
The Great
Recession of 2008 hit the United States, and it hit hard. Families as well as
corporations were feeling the stress on their wallets, and spending was cut. It
would make sense that charities and nongovernmental organizations that rely heavily
on donations and fundraising to support their organizations and projects would
be directly affected by the budget cuts that were happening all over the
country. And to some extent they were. According to a study done by Stanford
University in 2012, the recession reduced the total amount given by 7% in 2008,
and by another 6.2% in 2009. And although the amount given started to increase
in 2010, it only went up by 1.3% and .9% in 2011. But, over all, the average
American was still giving the same proportion of their income to charities.
During an economic downfall Americans on average do not suffer from an increase
in monetary stinginess, although there has been no evidence of an increase in
generosity. This can be problematic because it is in times of economic strife
that charities and nongovernmental organizations need donations the most.
This brings up the
question in the Government about whether or not to take away tax deductions for
giving to charities. When a government is experiencing an economic crisis, the
last thing that it will want to do is allow people to pay less on their taxes
which would mean less money would be going to the government. Europe does not
allow for a charity deductible, and so the government receives more money but
people are going to be less likely to give money to charities if they have to pay
taxes on it as well. This is what would happen in the United States if the
government decided to rid itself of the deduction; Charities would feel a
significant decrease in donations. This is something that many people, not just
the government, have to think about everyday. The struggles between saving
money and getting more money, or allowing for more money to be given to
charities (or the personal, every day life equivalent) and to what we feel are
our moral obligations.
While the total
amount given to charities does in fact decrease, this could partially be
because the targeting of more poverty relevant goes up. The total funding for
food banks in 40 cities increased by 2.2% between 2007 and 2008, and by an
astonishing 31.9% between 2008 and 2009 which shows that giving is targeted
towards the needy. Even though this is the case for food banks, for other
charities and nongovernmental organizations the outlook is not so great. While
Americans may be giving the same percentage, that percentage applies to a now
much smaller pool of money and so the absolute amount given decreases
significantly. The most recent data shows that the growth rate for money given
to charities has been the slowest of any period of two years since 1971 with
the exception of the recession in 2001 after 9/11. At the rate that we are
giving right now, it will take until 2022 to return to the level of money given
recorded in 2007.
To
sum everything up, while the level of donations and charitable giving is going
up, nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations are definitely feeling the
economic downfall. They are cutting projects, and payrolls for their staff in
order to exist. More people are starting to volunteer, but there is no doubt
that nongovernmental organizations and charities are stretching every dollar.
Sources:
"Charitable
Giving And The Great Recession." A Great Recession Brief . N.p.,
n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.stanford.edu/group/recessiontrends/cgi-bin/web/sites/all/themes/barron/pdf/CharitableGiving_fact_sheet.pdf>.
"Charitable
Giving during the Great Recession | RSF Review." Charitable Giving
during the Great Recession | RSF Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.russellsage.org/blog/r-mascarenhas/charitable-giving-during-great-recession>.
"On
Air Now." wtaq. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
<http://wtaq.com/news/articles/2012/jun/19/us-charitable-giving-approaches-300-billion-in-2011/>.
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