Report: Minn. charitable giving dropped in recession

A report released Thursday finds charitable giving in Minnesota decreased because of the recent economic downturn.

The Minnesota Council on Foundations-released report shows the most recent data from 2008 found individuals and corporations donated a total of $5.4 billion -- a 5 percent drop from 2007. Council President Bill King said the reduction occurred as the recession began to take a toll on the economy.

"People's individual wealth as well as the assets that people hold and foundations and corporations hold in their charitable giving really started to drop significantly," King said. "And as a result we saw a decline in charitable giving from individuals."

King said prior to that, corporations and foundations slightly increased their charitable donations between 2007 and 2008.

"The majority of giving increases came from those companies, which continued to be profitable and to give back to the community," he said.

Private foundations managed to maintain or increase charitable grant-making, even though they lost a total of 11.5 percent of their assets, due mostly to losses in the stock market, King said.