2009 Healthcare philanthropy

Charitable giving during 2009 was up in Canada and down in the United States, according to the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP).

The association’s annual Report on Giving indicated donations dropped $944 million in the U.S. last year from 2008 levels, while rising $56 million in Canada.

Members of AHP direct fundraising programs on behalf of more than 2,000 nonprofit health care facilities. In fiscal year 2009 their efforts yielded $7.644 billion in the U.S. and $1.124 billion in Canada, compared to $8.588 billion and $1.068 billion the previous year.

"Whether the recession ended in 2009 is for economists to debate, but its ripple effect certainly continued to curtail the ability of donors to give," William McGinly, president and CEO of AHP, said in a statement. "It means fundraisers will have to work harder and smarter."

In the U.S., largest declines were experienced in cash donations, down $818 million from 2008, and secured pledges, which declined $97 million over the year. Amounts donated per dollar-spent to raise them also went down, from $3.51 in 2008 to $3.19 last year, a 9% decline.

"This downward trend is a very serious problem in the U.S.," said Gregory Pope, FAHP, chair of the AHP board and vice president of philanthropy for Saint Thomas Health Services Foundation in Nashville, Tenn. "It comes just as some in Congress want to make it difficult for taxpayers to earn deductions for their donations, and as health care reform puts new pressure on nonprofit hospitals to serve more patients."

OTHER AHP FINDINGS
• More than four out of five contributors in the U.S. were individuals, and most of them had a direct relationship with the health care facility to which they gave, including patients, employees, physicians and board members. Other major donors were businesses and foundations, who together made about 12% of all donors, accounting for 28% of the funds raised.

• U.S. nonprofit health care facilities devoted much of their donated money to construction and renovations (27.3%) and new equipment (18.4%). 18% of donated dollars went to fund charity care and community benefit programs, and 15% supported general operations. Other uses to which donations were put included endowments (6.5%), research and teaching (5.1%), hospice and long-term care (4%) and other purposes (5.6%).

• In Canada, FY 2009’s increase of 5.2% in donations to hospitals and health care systems partially moderated a 13% drop in 2008; however, some of this improvement came about because most hospitals ended their 2009 fiscal year in March 2010, which included a high-growth January – March quarter for Canada’s economy.

• Most of the FY 2009 increase in Canada came from cash contributions, which, at $869 million, were up $147 million over 2008’s level.

• As in the U.S., individuals comprised about four of every five Canadian donors, contributing almost six of every 10 dollars raised. More than 27% of individual donors were patients, physicians, board members or other staff of the hospitals to which they gave, while community supporters unaffiliated with the institution accounted for over half of all individual donors.

• The distribution of philanthropic funds supporting health care facilities in Canada maintained their historical patterns. Equipment purchases accounted for 55.1% of the total in 2009, followed by construction costs (15.4%), research and teaching (10.8%), general operations (8.2%) and endowments (4.3%). Under the Canadian health care system, less than 1% of charity funding goes to community benefit programs.