Recently, articles have appeared that review the results of charitable giving for 2018. The results are in and they are not encouraging. Individual giving as a percentage of household income is not improving, and in many cases shows a small decrease. The biggest reason given for this result is the recent tax law change. Many taxpayers now will avail themselves of the standard deduction and not itemize deductions on their return. So charitable deductions will lose some tax appeal for those taxpayers. I have also seen at least one article that indicates that trust in nonprofits worldwide is at an all-time low. What these facts mean to me is that endowments at charities will take on more importance as they may need to make up for shortfalls in gifting. I have long thought that the future of many charities will depend on their endowment growth in addition to their current gifts.
Endowment Growth More Important Than Ever
