Bank of America

With an estimated 440,000 people living in shelters following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan on Friday, contributions from corporations have outpaced those from individuals and are on track to surpass corporate support for disaster relief efforts in Haiti after that country was struck by a devastating earthquake in 2010, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center reports.

The 2010 Study of High Net-Worth Philanthropy provides fundraisers with insights on wealthy donors' behaviors and giving preferences.

Investors demand a good return from their assets. Now donors are increasingly seeking the same for their charitable dollars.

Finding the worthiest, most-efficient organizations to maximize the impact of your donations couldn't be more pressing.

Donors are rethinking their giving strategies, says Patrick Rooney, executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. "They want to make sure now more than ever that they're using their money wisely."

Wealthy Americans are making smaller gifts to charity, with more than half of them making their largest gift to fund nonprofit operations, a new study says.

They also are volunteering more, and those who volunteer more are giving more, says the 2010 Bank of America Merrill Lynch Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy.

Overall average gift amounts from wealthy Americans fell 35 percent from 2007, after adjusting for inflation, although several sectors saw average gift amounts grow 4 percent to 21 percent.

Uncertainty over future tax rates and the end of a popular tax break for seniors could cause givers to postpone or reduce charitable contributions this year, putting pressure on charities already struggling with a decline in donations.

The fourth quarter is traditionally the time of year when many large charities receive the majority of their annual contributions. Donors who make their contributions by Dec. 31 can claim the deduction when they file their tax return for the year. But political gridlock has turned that strategy upside down, charitable experts say.

Gifts to charities from wealthy Americans plummeted by an average of nearly 35 percent from 2007 to 2009, according to a new study released on the giving habits of the rich.

Affluent donors who had donated an average of more than $83,000 in 2007 gave only about $54,000 on average two years later during the heart of the economic downturn, according to the study by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are urging U.S. billionaires to give away their money, but economic uncertainty is deterring rich Americans from increasing their giving, say bankers to the very wealthy.

Chief executives of Wells Fargo Private Bank, Credit Suisse Private Bank, Bessemer Trust, Silvercrest Asset Management and Bank of America's U.S. Trust told the Reuters Global Private Banking Summit that some rich people were reassessing their giving as the country recovers from its worst recession in decades.

Common Ground National, one of the nation’s largest providers of supportive housing, announced it has been awarded a $200,000 grant from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation for its 100,000 Homes Campaign, a three year effort to house 100,000 long term and vulnerable homeless by July of 2013. This is among the largest grants received to date for the 100,000 Homes Campaign, which works with communities across the nation to organize local volunteer survey teams who administer public health surveys to identify the homeless with the most serious health needs.

Corporate profits are on the rebound, but most big businesses say it will be some time before they can give as much cash as they did before the recession, according to a Chronicle survey of 162 of the country’s largest corporations.

Bank of America Corp. on Thursday will commit $10 million in grants to nonprofit organizations that lend to small and rural businesses.

A host of nonprofit lenders, such as Community Development Financial Institutions, or CDFIs, have been struggling to make loans throughout U.S. communities. Those entities typically receive their lending funds from federal agencies, but recession-driven funding restraints have limited the ability of these organizations to lend.