The Rich Continue to Give -- A Little

The list of people who gave gifts of over $1 million includes 513 for 2011, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. That may not seem like many unless it is put in the context of how much money a person would need to make a donation of that size. Perhaps $10 million to afford a gift of $1 million. Or, perhaps some of the people who made the gifts have died. The most notable thing about the list is that it is dominated by $1 million gifts. Higher amounts are scarce, and they go to famous institutions.

Most $1 million gifts were given to small charities, which leaves large nonprofits to fight over those who are truly generous and really rich. A typical modest gift is the one given by Theresa Patnode Santmann. It was in the amount of $1 million and the recipient was Farmingdale State College. It is a small college on Long Island that probably could not survive without a few $1 million donations. Almost no one has heard of it. The Theresa Patnode Santmann gift may be more important in the scheme of things than a $100 million donation is to Harvard.

Most of the $1 million gifts were given to charities with names that most Americans would not recognize. That means these little nonprofits do not have access to the money that famous charities do.

And the rich nonprofits do get richer. Ohio State, the Mayo Clinic and, of course, Yale and Harvard were all on the list of institutions that received one or more gifts of over $30 million in 2011. Almost none of the nonprofits that benefited from $30 million or more has a name that many people would know. Branding is just as important in the world of philanthropy as it is in the world of consumer products. The wealthy would rather have their names on a building at Columbia than one at Farmingdale State College.

The year 2011 may have been a reasonably good one for philanthropic gifts, but most were given to charities that probably need them the least.

Douglas A. McIntyre