Donations to Biggest U.S. Charities Fell in 2009: Chronicle of Philanthropy

Donations to the largest U.S. charities fell by 11% in 2009, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported Sunday. The Chronicle said the decline was the worst in the two decades since it began publishing its Philanthropy 400 ranking of the nonprofit organizations that raise the most money from private sources. Indeed, the drop in contributions was nearly four times as great as the next biggest annual decrease: 2.8% in 2001.

This year does not look much better. For the more than one in four groups that provided projections for 2010, the median change they predicted was an increase of only 1.4%, The Chronicle said in its report.