Special Report: How America Gives | The Chronicle of Philanthropy 

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Each year, the charity world waits eagerly for the announcement of how much individual Americans gave to charity. And each year, that annual total doggedly climbs higher, faltering only occasionally. Four of the past five years, it has broken its own record, prompting confetti sprays and paeans of praise to this country’s generosity.

Yet fewer Americans appear to be giving to charity. In 2015, only 24 percent of taxpayers reported a charitable gift, according to a Chronicle analysis of Internal Revenue Service data. That’s down from 2000 to 2006, years when that figure routinely reached 30 or 31 percent.

Texas Official After Harvey: The ‘Red Cross Was Not There’ | Justin Elliott, Jessica Huseman, & Decca Muldowney, ProPublica 

Once again, there were appeals for donations to the Red Cross. And once again, local officials are saying the charity hasn’t delivered.

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How you can help hurricane victims in Puerto Rico | Jennifer Hijazi, PBS 

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In Mexico City, this Jewish NGO is the go-to agency for earthquake relief | Alan Grabinsky, JTA 

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Ford Releases Investment Returns; More Grant Makers May Be On the Way | Marc Gunther, The Chronicle of Philanthropy 

For the five years ending last December 31, Ford said its endowment generated a 9.2 percent return, outperforming the median return of 7.72 percent for the foundations that FoundationMark tracks... Meantime, over those same five years, a sample portfolio of low-cost, passively invested index funds from Vanguard... delivered a 9.1 percent annualized return. Those returns lagged just behind the Ford Foundation but well ahead of the foundation averages.

What that means is that as a group, U.S. foundations, which have a collective $800 billion in assets under management, would have done better during the past five years if they had ignored active portfolio managers... and simply held low-cost index funds.

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4 Foundations to Philanthropy: Listen More to Nonprofits and Speak Less | Martin Levine, NPQ 

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With hurricane after hurricane, some worry about donor fatigue | David Robinson, USA Today 

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The Keys to True Social Sector Impact? Evaluation and Continuous Learning | Meg Long & Clare Nolan, Center for Effective Philanthropy 

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