ABSTRACT
US corporations and their associated foundations donated 4.3 per cent of the total income received by the non-profit sector (or $9.05 billion) in 2001. This total represents a 12.1 per cent decrease over the figure for 2000 (AAFRC Trust 2002), which is highly unusual in historic terms. Most years tend to see a modest increase in giving in line with inflation, but it is important to note that there is a strong link between corporate generosity and the performance of the economy. Thus while corporate giving declined in this period it is against a backdrop of a fall in corporate profits of 17 per cent over the same period. This fall in giving also lowered the percentage of pre-tax profits that were donated to about 1 per cent. This again is lower than recent norms, which have been of the order of 1.1 to 1.3 per cent. In reality however, all these figures tend to underestimate corporate support of the non-profit sector since many companies support non-profits through marketing, public relations and advertising expenditures in addition to their charitable gifts.
