A year of extremes......

Buisness Week published and article yesterday speculating on whether end of the year charitable giving will go up or down? With all the disasters beginning in December of 2005 and continuing into the fall of 2005 - what will happen? Will charities be able to balance their budget?

Americans give nearly $250B a year to charitable causes to anything from Girl Scouts selling cookies to endowments for cultural arts centers. And 76% of this comes from individuals. Could these individuals be tapped out after stepping up to the plate time after time in the last year?

Are many contributions lost to good intentions? Are donations put off becuase of the sense of urgency broadcasted by another disaster in another place? Interesting to note that as a crisis get more publicity and images transmitted to the world - so the dollars flow in that direction.

We reported that donations to the largest charities grew by 11.6% in 2004. They look like they will survive. But what about the million or so that support our local communities? The ones that provide for our underserved?

If indeed it is a fact that we could give more, that we should give more....why am I hearing about donors....both corporations and foundations that are capping off at their 5% level? Why are we not preparing to give above and beyond when certain circumstances occur?

Some annual statistics of note from Business Week...
Fitness magazine reports that $40M is spent on weight loss!
PDF Magazine reports that $23.5B is spent on candy and gum!
The American Society of Aesthetic Surgery reports that $8B is spent on plastic surgery!

Come on now - lets dig a little deeper!