Two scholars of philanthropy and geography who reviewed the numbers see cause for concern about the agility and priorities of grantmakers during a crisis.
Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels, left, speaks with Michael Bloomberg, who has given the school more than $3.3 billion.
Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images
In some cases, big donors are supporting higher education to support a philanthropic strategy that includes racial and economic justice.
Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott, seen here before they divorced in 2019, were the top two U.S. charitable donors the following year.
Jorg Carstensen/dpa/AFP via Getty Images
While support for social services and historically black colleges and universities rose sharply, these donors spent a tiny fraction of what the government distributed to people who needed help.
A volunteer looks for waterbirds at Point Reyes National Seashore in California during the National Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count.
Kerry W/Flickr
COVID-19 kept many scientists from doing field research in 2020, which means that important records will have data gaps. But volunteers are helping to plug some of those holes.
Food banks are busier than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic.
AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall
The number of people assisted by food banks had been growing over the two decades before the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, these nonprofits are facing even more demand.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes gave $5,000 to the Dick’s Sporting Goods Sports Matter program on Giving on Tuesday in 2018.
Colin Braley/AP Images for DICK'S Sporting Goods
Even after donors boosted their charitable giving at other times of the year, people donated 25% more than in 2019 through the annual campaign.
The philanthropist is giving away billions of dollars quickly to help people like these Floridians seeking donated food.
Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images
By not attaching any strings to the money, championing representation and generally taking care to respect nonprofit leaders, she’s following five best practices.
World Vision sponsors could choose a child in the mid-1970s by pasting one of these stamps with their likeness on a mail-in card.
World Vision International archives
No matter who chooses whom, many sponsors of children in need see God as the real driving force when they enter this arrangement with far-away strangers.
Which conversations about hospital donations are unethical?
CDC via Unsplash
A survey suggests that most Americans feel that discussions about charitable support may interfere with the relationship between doctors and their patients.
Children can use preferences for leverage.
PeopleImages/E+ via Getty Images
The internet ushered in new ways of raising money, particularly with the rise of crowdfunding. But making appeals for cash on social media represents an entirely different phenomenon.
People in Zambia gather while awaiting food distribution in January 2020.
Guillem Sartorio/AFP via Getty Images
Using a common tool for measuring subconscious stereotypes, a scholar assessed how bias against dark skin can influence an inclination to support a charity serving people in low-income countries.
A Feed Your City volunteer bundling food to be given away in Atlanta on Sept. 19, 2020.
Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Feed Your City Challenge/Atlanta GA
The trend of paying housekeepers unable to do their work and ordering takeout when it isn’t essential can be seen broadly as a form of charitable giving, according to philanthropy researchers.
Howard University, in Washington, D.C., recently got its finances in order.
Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Due to a ‘once-in-a-century crisis,’ five big foundations are spending more of their assets on grants than usual. Some are issuing bonds to finance their extra support for nonprofits.
Volunteers distributing food in Valley Stream, New York.
AP Photo/Mary Altaffer
Food pantries, the providers of services to the homeless and similar organizations now face enormous challenges.
The Ford Foundation, under Darren Walker’s leadership, is joining with other foundations to give more money away.
Gonzalo Marroquin/Patrick McMullan/Getty Images
A careful review of more than 200 letters written by the wealthy people who signed the Giving Pledge over its first decade suggests a big contradiction.
Professor of Economics and Philanthropic Studies; Associate Dean for Research and International Programs, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University
Associate Professor of Philanthropic Studies and Donald A. Campbell Chair in Fundraising Leadership, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University