Charitiable giving to health care institutions crashes

Donations to non-profit health care organizations were down 11% last year — just when the funds were needed most.

So says a recent study by the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy.

According to the report, U.S. donations in 2009 were down 11% from the previous year — from $8.58 billion to $7.64 billion. Actual cash donations were down $818 million, while pledges decreased by $97 million. (For comparison, in Canada during the same time period, donations rose by 5.2%.)

Most of the U.S. contributions (72%) came from individual donors — patients, board members, physicians and other employees. The rest came from businesses and foundations.