Charitable donations are at a high point–but fewer people are giving

这是许多有需要的人可能对这个假期感到感激的统计数据：美国人是给予记录量为慈善机构，并比以往任何时候都更多。但这并不是所有的美国人。实际上，它比以往任何时候都要少 - 他们只是doing a whole lot more比其他所有人。

“The amount of dollars and the number of volunteer hours is hitting historic highs, and at the same time we’re hitting historic lows in the percentage of Americans who are actually giving and volunteering,” says Robert Grimm, director of the在马里兰大学做好研究所. So maybe everyone should just be grateful there are super charitable folks around to pick up the slack.

或者可能不是。他说：“这掩盖了一种令人不安的趋势，每年，美国人实际上都在参与社区。”

A newDo Good Institute reportGrimm合着的解释了这种特殊的慈善悖论的危险。2017年，美国人的总计4100亿美元，在2015年的各种原因中约为85亿美元，这是该数据可获得的最新一年。但是近年来，估计只有56％的美国人每年捐款，远低于千年之交的67％。不到25％的美国人定期自愿参加，这也比9/11之后不久的29％的国家峰值少。

尽管各种因素（包括当今该国的广泛需求不堪重负）可能解释了这一分层，但经济学也可能是一个原因。在美国，财富越来越集中在社会经济范围的顶部，而许多工人阶级的人在过去几十年中没有看到他们的工资或财富增长。也许，较少的人给予金钱和时间，因为他们只是少了。在2017年，52％的捐款来自每年收入超过20万美元的家庭。

As Grimm sees it, the division in giving reflects other rifts in American culture. “When less residents [within a community] are actually engaged in behavior such as giving and volunteering in particular, there’s greater social isolation and less trust in each other,” he says. “There’s a good deal of research that shows that regularly engaging in these kinds of charitable behaviors results in greater physical and mental health,” Grimm says. Participating in causes and volunteering brings people together, and as people opt out of doing these things, they miss opportunities for connection around common goals.

Similarly concerning is the effect these trends may have on charitable organizations themselves. Many nonprofits may just be looking at their bottom line or top volunteers, and not realizing that they’re spread thin. The fewer key contributors or supporters you have for your cause, the less stable your organization is if several unexpectedly disappear.

DO Good Institute的发现来自2002年至2015年之间55,000户家庭的美国劳工统计和人口普查局（BLS）数据的分析。这涵盖了所有50个州的215个都会区。在志愿者方面，在农村地区和曾经被认为是社会支持的堡垒的郊区，下降尤为陡峭。

显然有异常值，但这是美国普通给予者的样子：根据BLS数据，大多数志愿者每周大约两个小时的美国人。据印第安纳大学称，平均捐助者每年捐款约2500美元。简而言之，如果一群人付出了更多而不是什么，他们会帮助更多的人，并可能使自己的生活更加完整。

To that end, Grimm suggests that more communities think about how to instill generosity as a value in their own kids, so that giving becomes a lifelong habit. He thinks many nonprofits need to work harder at keeping supporters engaged year-round, not just during the holidays, and that social entrepreneurs recognize the inherent value of founding more nonprofit and civic startups.

无论哪种方式，美国人都可能想考虑随着时间的推移持续慈善参与的好处。格林说：“如果您锻炼一次，每月一次，您可能不会经历很多健康益处。”“如果您一年或两次志愿者，这是非常相似的。”