Philanthropy – Bill Pitkin

On hiatus

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted to this blog, due simply to having too many things to do over the couple months. I’m hoping to get back to the blog more regularly in the near future. In the meantime, you may want to check out a post I did recently over at the Funders TogetherContinue reading “On hiatus”

Giving was down in 2008; Human service organizations hit hard

The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that according to Giving USA’s report findings released today, charitable donations fell by nearly 6% in 2008, the sharpest drop in 53 years. Americans gave over $300 billion to nonprofit organizations in 2008, amounting to about 2% of the gross domestic product. As the article points out, the decline from theContinue reading “Giving was down in 2008; Human service organizations hit hard”

Who are the most generous among us?

There was an interesting article in the Philadelphia Inquirer today reporting on analysis of the 2007 BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey that shows that the poor are in some respects the most generous in charitable giving. The poorest fifth of America’s households (and we’re talking here about households with an average income of less than $11,000)Continue reading “Who are the most generous among us?”

Philanthropic patience

For those of us who have toiled to raise funds from philanthropic foundations to support community efforts, the above words may seem at first to be oxymoronic (like “military intelligence” or “honest politician”). Foundations are famous for having a specific type of attention deficit disorder that looks for just the latest and greatest innovation andContinue reading “Philanthropic patience”