Individuals in the United Stated increased their philanthropic giving in 2010 by 2.1%, despite the pace of economic recovery. While this rate of increase still shows we have not rebounded to pre-recession levels, it is a “remarkable testament to the core values of Americans” says Patrick Rooney of Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy in their annual “Giving USA” report.
Giving to religious organizations dropped 0.8% in 2010, much less than the 2.3% drop for environmental and and animal welfare causes, and the 1.5% drop for human services, according to the report.
One piece of advice in the report is that persistence pay
s off – those who may have decreased or eliminated their giving during the recession are now slowly “regrowing their philanthropy.”

As we rebuild and reshape the economy for this next decade and beyond, our presence and our action as UU communities can ensure that giving to our UU churches remains an important piece of who we are and all that we represent.
For a more detailed summary of the report, please see the following article from the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which also contains a link to the entire report.
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