Charity

In modern usage, the practice of charity means the giving of help to those in need who are not related to the giver.

See also: Foreign aid

Statistics

In the US, in 2010 total giving to charitable organizations was estimated at $290.89 billion in 2010 (about 2% of GDP).

• Most of the money came from individuals: $211.77 billion (73% of total giving).
• 14% of donations came from foundations for a total of $41 billion.
• Bequests accounted for 8% of donations or a total of $22.83 billion.
• Giving by corporations amounted to just 5% of all giving in 2010 ($15.29 billion).

Where did all that money go?

• 35% of all donations, or $100.63 billion, went to religious organizations. Most of this giving is to the donor’s house of worship.
• At 14% ($41.67 billion) of giving in 2010, the next largest sector was education.
• 9% of donations ($26.49 billion ) went to human services charities.
• 8% went to health charities for a total of $22.83 billion.
• 8% went to public benefit charities for a total of $24.24 billion.
• 5% went to arts, culture, humanities charities which received a total of $13.28 billion.
• 5% went to international charities for a total of $15.77 billion. International charities saw the biggest growth in giving (15.3%), in part, because of the earthquake in Haiti (January 2010).
• 2% of donations went to environmental and animal charities.

Links

• Charity by Russell Roberts, The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics
• Health Insurance before the Welfare State The Destruction of Self-Help by State Intervention (pdf) by Pavel Chalupnicek and Lukas Dvorak, 2009
• No Buts about Freedom by Richard M. Ebeling, July 2005
• Free Gas and The Economics of Charity by Art Carden and Timothy M. Shaughnessy, September 2008
• The Greatest Economic Charity by F.A. Harper, from the The Writings of F. A. Harper, Volume 2: Shorter Essays
• An Uncharitable Proposal by Alex M. Brill and Phillip Swagel. March 2009
• Charity at Wikipedia