Who’s Raising the Most: The 100 Charities That Are America’s Favorites

ASPCA

America’s growing economic divide is creating new fault lines in society — this time, in the charity world.

The 100 U.S. Charities That Raise the Most in Cash and Stocks

The Chronicle of Philanthropy unveils its new, exclusive ranking. Plus, the data behind the ranking, what’s going on with donor-advised funds, and more.

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Nonprofits backed by America’s affluent thrived in the past decade, far outpacing their “blue collar” counterparts as they tapped the post-recession wealth that accrued to the rich. Giving soared to wealth-driven institutions like the Mayo Clinic and Harvard while falling off significantly at the United Way and other household-name charities that rely on donations from average Americans.

That’s according to a new Chronicle of Philanthropy ranking of the 100 charities that raised the most in cash and stock contributions in 2017. The ranking, called America’s Favorite Charities, identifies the organizations that Americans are most willing to open their wallets to support.

Collectively, these organizations brought in $47 billion in cash contributions, about 11 percent of all giving last year.

The ranking features both the familiar (American Red Cross, which ranks No. 18) and the unexpected (the Barack Obama Foundation, No. 82). It includes groups born before the American Revolution (Harvard, No. 4), just after the Civil War (Mayo Clinic, No. 5), and at the dawn of the 21st century (Wounded Warrior, No. 95). One is known for its red kettles (Salvation Army, No. 2), another for its Facebook-famous founder and his physician wife (Chan Zuckerburg Biohub, No. 22).

Chasing the Wealthy

Colleges and hospitals, which typically run robust big-gift operations that court the wealthy, account for 49 of the groups on the debut list. Charitable support of these institutions climbed 44 percent from 2007 through 2017, even after adjusting for inflation. Among the high fliers were Mayo (up 202 percent), the University of Notre Dame (No. 39; up 100 percent), and the University of Nebraska (No. 96; up 77 percent).

Giving grew less than 4 percent at the remaining organizations in the ranking. Their financial support actually dropped 7 percent if you remove from that set a half-dozen additional groups that rely almost exclusively on corporations, foundations, or a handful of donors with deep pockets.

Groups posting severe declines included revered giants such as the American Cancer Society (No. 14; down 34 percent), the Jewish Federations of North America (No. 75; down 41 percent), and the biggest of them all, United Way Worldwide (No. 1; down 28 percent).

These numbers mirror other data indicating that the share of Americans who give to charity declined after the recession, particularly in moderate-income households. As the middle class has been hollowed out over the decade, so has the small-donation giving that organizations like United Way were built upon, argues Brian Gallagher, United Way chief executive. “The question of the health of the United Way is almost a question of the health of middle-income philanthropy,” he says. “There’s not a healthy middle right now in the country.”

Stock-Market Bonanza

Colleges and other organizations that traditionally draw support from the wealthy were not shy about revving up fundraising to capitalize on the post-recession stock-market rally, which would become the longest in history. Mayo closed a campaign in 2018 that netted nearly $3.8 billion, almost $1 billion more than its target when the drive began in 2010.

All but 10 of the 42 colleges on our list were running campaigns in 2017, including Harvard (up 63 percent since 2007), which closed its drive this year having raised $9.6 billion, a record in the nonprofit world. At least 15 others were aiming for $4 billion or more.

“The great universities have adapted very quickly to the new economic conditions,” says Bruce Flessner, a principal at Bentz Whaley Flessner, a fundraising consulting company. “They chased extraordinarily wealthy people and brought them into the family in a big way. Most other charities aren’t set up to do that kind of thing.”

Colleges whose stock made up a big share of contributions include the California Institute of Technology (No. 90; 33 percent), the University of Nebraska (No. 96; 31 percent), Notre Dame (No. 39; 21 percent), and Stanford (No. 6; 17 percent).

Fidelity Soars

Fidelity Charitable and other nonprofits that focus exclusively on sponsoring donor-advised funds are not included in the ranking, which analyzes giving directed to organizations with a specific social mission. Donor-advised funds are giving vehicles, not groups with a cause.

Yet the growth in these organizations, which are used most frequently by investors and the wealthy, dwarfed that of other traditional charities.

Fidelity collected $6.8 billion in 2017, more than twice the $3.3 billion in cash contributions received by United Way. From 2007 through 2017, giving to Fidelity climbed more than 260 percent.

New Approach

By focusing solely on the fundraising of cause-driven nonprofits, the Chronicle’s new ranking provides insights into the trends affecting donations by individuals from all walks of life and the growing importance of foundation gifts to charities. It also offers a more detailed financial picture of the organizations that are the best at fundraising.

The ranking is based on a group’s cash support — the total value of money and stock it received as gifts from individuals, corporations, and foundations. It excludes government grants, donated products, and contributions to donor-advised funds. (See our Editor’s Notebook for more details about why we chose this new approach.)

As part of our analysis, the Chronicle examined growth in cash, product donations, and other gifts raised from private sources at 94 of the 100 organizations for which we have 10-year fundraising records. That growth is calculated based on averages of three years of support totals — 2005-7 and 2015-17 — with each year’s figures adjusted for inflation.

Tyler Davis and Brian O’Leary contributed data analysis to this report.