The impact of a down economy

Last night the Robin Hood Foundation - which I use as my own informal indicator of economic ups and downs - raised $56.5 million for poverty-fighting efforts in NYC. Not bad for a night's work. Unless you compare it to the $71 million the group raised last year at this time - what difference does a year make? A drop of 21% ($14.5 million)

Extending our horizon another year back and we note that 2007 was a banner year for RHF - the $71 million raised in 2007 was a 36% increase over the $45 million it raised in 2006. And all of it is considerably more than the $700,000 raised back in 1990, RHF's first year.

By the way, if the 21% drop is applied to all individual giving, project a drop of +/- $47 Billion this year.* That is almost real money.

* Calculated off of the $223 billion in individual giving gave in 2006. (Source: Giving USA). This 2006 number is the most recent number I have - 2007 numbers expected from Giving USA in June.

Tags: philanthropy, robinhood