Healthcare Financial News
Philanthropic giving for health care in the United States grew by just 2.9 percent—or about $241 million—to $8.6 billion in 2008, according to a report issued by the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP). Grateful patients, businesses, foundations, and other donors made $8.588 billion in charitable contributions to healthcare facilities and organizations in 2008, the AHP’s Report on Giving determined.
This 2.9 percent increase was about half the growth rate achieved in 2007, when donations totaled $8.347 billion.
Accounting for much of the slight advance in giving was the fact that most not-for-profit hospitals and healthcare systems closed their books before the last quarter of 2008, when U.S. gross domestic product plunged more than 5 percent. Institutions that closed their books on Dec. 31, 2008, actually saw a 0.2 percent dip in annual giving.
More than eight of every 10 donations came from individuals, whose contributions comprised 60 percent of all philanthropic funds raised by not-for-profit healthcare institutions last year. One in 10 donations were made by businesses, including business-sponsored foundations, representing 17.5 percent of all funds raised, down slightly from 2007. Noncorporate foundations accounted for less than 3 percent of donors but almost 14 percent of revenues. Other giving sources, including hospital auxiliaries, public agencies, and civic groups, accounted for 8.6 percent of total funds raised in 2008, compared to 7.5 percent in 2007.