Grateful patients and other U.S. donors increased their charitable contributions to healthcare facilities and organizations in 2006, but the 11.5 percent increase to $7.9 billion was substantially lower than the 16 percent rate of increase to $7 billion reached in 2005, according to a new Report on Giving issued Oct. 22 by The Association for Healthcare Philanthropy.
In the U.S., contributions from individuals represented 60 percent of all contributions, about the same as the year-earlier level, while the portion contributed by U.S. businesses, including corporate foundations, increased to 20.4 percent in 2006, up from 18.2 percent in 2005. Noncorporate foundations represented 12 percent of funds raised in 2006, down by 0.7 percent from the earlier year. Other giving sources, including hospital auxiliaries, public agencies, and civic groups, were responsible for 8.1 percent of the 2006 total, down from almost 10 percent in 2005.
In Canada, the report showed that Canadian contributions were up only 3.3 percent to $1.23 billion in 2006, compared with an increase of 11 percent to $1.2 billion in 2005. Individual givers provided 52 percent of funds raised in Canada, down from almost 61 percent in 2005.Canadian businesses, including corporate foundations, supplied 25.4 percent of the 2006 total, compared with 25.6 percent in 2005. Canadian foundations, other than corporate, contributed 9.7 percent in 2006, compared with 3.5 percent in 2005. Read the press release.
