Last year was a relative rarity in charitable giving: a down year. According to an annual report from the Giving USA Foundation and Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, 2022 saw nearly $500 billion of charitable giving, a decline of 3.4% in current dollars and 10.5% adjusted for inflation, from 2021, when the total surpassed half a trillion dollars for the first time.
When measured in current dollars, total charitable giving has fallen only three other times in the past four decades—1987, 2008, and 2009—each a year of economic or market difficulties. In 2022 there was growth in three of the four sources of giving (foundations, bequests, and corporations) in current dollars, but all four (including the fourth category, individuals) declined after adjusting for inflation. Giving by foundations and corporations, however, posted positive two-year growth, even after adjusting for inflation. Individual giving has been falling as a share of the total for several years, dropping to 64% in 2022; in 2018 it ran at 70%.
Mirroring 2021, large gifts by some of the wealthiest Americans represented nearly 5% of individual giving last year. Six individuals and couples accounted for a total of $13.96 billion in gifts. The report didn’t identify donors.
Giving increased in five of the nine categories of nonprofits that receive charitable contributions (religion, foundations, health, international affairs, and arts/culture), although growth largely failed keep pace with 8% inflation. In inflation-adjusted terms, seven of the nine subsectors experienced declines.
Last Week
Stocks Take a Break
The Bank of China lowered its prime rate to 3.55%, U.K. inflation remained stuck at 8.7%, and U.S. housing starts soared by over 21% in May, the most since 2016. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testified before Congress, reiterating that two more rate hikes were likely by year end. Stocks opened the week down after Juneteenth, then slid on weak manufacturing data. On the week, the Dow industrials lost 1.67% to 33,728.62; the S&P 500 was down 1.39% to 4348.41; and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.44% to 13492.52.
Talking China
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with top Chinese officials, including President Xi Jinping, in an effort to stabilize relations. Both the White House and Beijing reiterated that progress had been made, though a reference by President Biden to Xi as a “dictator” drew an angry response from China. India Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the White House and spoke before Congress. Tensions have been rising between China and India.
Russia’s Wagner Problem
Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said the Russian military attacked his paramilitary force, and the Kremlin accused him of “armed mutiny.” Ukraine took more villages in the south but advances slowed.
Search and Discovery
After a five-day search, the Coast Guard said a submersible carrying five imploded near the Titanic site in the North Atlantic.
The Corporate Front
The Federal Trade Commission sued
Amazon
of deceiving customers over its popular Prime subscription program…UBS is facing more than $400 million in penalties over Credit Suisse’s dealings with Archegos Capital…
Airbus
received an order at the Paris Air Show for 500 planes from India discount airline IndiGo, at roughly $50 billion, one of the largest orders in history.
Boeing
followed with a 290-plane order from Air India…
Alibaba
CEO Daniel Zhang will step down but continue to run the company’s cloud-computing business. Replacing him as chairman is Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai, and as CEO, Eddie Wu. Alibaba is splitting into six companies…EDX Markets, a new crypto exchange backed by Citadel Securities, Fidelity, and
Charles Schwab,
began operations…3M came to a $10.3 billion settlement over so-called forever chemicals in water. 3M will pay localities for 13 years to test and clean up the chemicals.
Annals of Deal Making
SVB Financial Group
said it has sold Silicon Valley Bank’s investment bank to a group of its own bankers led by Jeffrey Leerink, who sold his healthcare boutique to SVB for $280 million in 2019, and backed by Baupost Group. The price: $55 million in cash and $26 million in debt…The Financial Times reported that
Lazard
had talked with Abu Dhabi sovereign-wealth fund ADQ about going private. But both parties walked away from the deal…
Adobe’s
$20 billion acquisition of Figma faces a European Union review. The deal has also run into U.S. and U.K. regulatory issues.
Write to Robert Teitelman at bob.teitelman@dowjones.com
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