Finding out where charitable money comes from and where it goes to is sticky and nigh impossible, I think. I don't know which of the charities are outfits you haven't heard from. Some comments on a few in the top ten of the list you reference.
AmeriCares (http://www.americares.org/site/c.ivIYIjN3JyE/b.1704285/k.FB7C/International_Disaster_Relief_Organization_About_Us.htm) is an international humanitarian aid and disaster relief organization that also does national relief work in the USA. Good stuff.
Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund (http://www.charitablegift.org/index.shtml) works like the Community Foundation Silicon Valley. People donate $$ to the fund, which keeps separate tracking so you know how much money you've donated. You get your charitable tax deduction right then. Later, you tell the gift fund that you want to donate $xx to the food bank or to Swords to Plowshares or whatever. The gift fund takes your request under advisement but there is no guarantee that they will fund what you ask them to fund. I think they probably do so if they can because otherwise people wouldn't use their services. Some people donate their $xx and let the gift fund allot the $$ as they see fit. Most community foundations, the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program, and other such work the same way. With CFSV, if you want your money to go to organization XYZ, the organization has to provide proof that they're a 501(c)(3) before CFSV will cut the check. I'm assuming most others do the same.
Gifts in Kind (http://www.giftsinkind.org/) distributes corporate donations of new product.
... and so it goes.
So, how to tell in aggregate what charitable donations are funding? Impossible, really. You have Community Funds and individuals and religious organizations and the Packards and Hewletts and Gateses.
You might find these sites informative, if you don't already know of them:
American Institute of Philanthropy (http://www.charitywatch.org/aboutaip.html)
National Center for Charitable Statistics (http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/FAQ/index.php?category=31)
The Foundation Center (http://foundationcenter.org)
The Foundation Center does provide statistics for funding of nonprofits by the top 1000 foundations (http://foundationcenter.org/findfunders/statistics/), but, of course, (as noted above) that's just a wedge of the nonprofit funding pie.
Interesting stuff. Sort by "subject area" You'll find for 2005, $ value of grants, # of grants, &c. for a number of different subject areas "Based on all grants of $10,000 or more awarded by a national sample of 1,154 larger U.S. foundations (including 800 of the 1,000 largest ranked by total giving). For community foundations, only discretionary grants are included."
The Foundation Center also does a slice that tells you which were the top organizations funded for a given subject area and how much. Under "environment" Longwood Gardens, PA, received $27m and Greenwood Gardens and Nature Center, NJ, received $15m (both in the top ten), but then you notice that each of those totals was from a single grant, which probably means that someone with a donor-directed fund sent a whopping check to a pet project.
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timeasmymeasure
Charitable funding
AmeriCares (http://www.americares.org/site/c.ivIYIjN3JyE/b.1704285/k.FB7C/International_Disaster_Relief_Organization_About_Us.htm) is an international humanitarian aid and disaster relief organization that also does national relief work in the USA. Good stuff.
Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund (http://www.charitablegift.org/index.shtml) works like the Community Foundation Silicon Valley. People donate $$ to the fund, which keeps separate tracking so you know how much money you've donated. You get your charitable tax deduction right then. Later, you tell the gift fund that you want to donate $xx to the food bank or to Swords to Plowshares or whatever. The gift fund takes your request under advisement but there is no guarantee that they will fund what you ask them to fund. I think they probably do so if they can because otherwise people wouldn't use their services. Some people donate their $xx and let the gift fund allot the $$ as they see fit. Most community foundations, the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program, and other such work the same way. With CFSV, if you want your money to go to organization XYZ, the organization has to provide proof that they're a 501(c)(3) before CFSV will cut the check. I'm assuming most others do the same.
Gifts in Kind (http://www.giftsinkind.org/) distributes corporate donations of new product.
... and so it goes.
So, how to tell in aggregate what charitable donations are funding? Impossible, really. You have Community Funds and individuals and religious organizations and the Packards and Hewletts and Gateses.
You might find these sites informative, if you don't already know of them:
American Institute of Philanthropy (http://www.charitywatch.org/aboutaip.html)
National Center for Charitable Statistics (http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/FAQ/index.php?category=31)
The Foundation Center (http://foundationcenter.org)
The Foundation Center does provide statistics for funding of nonprofits by the top 1000 foundations (http://foundationcenter.org/findfunders/statistics/), but, of course, (as noted above) that's just a wedge of the nonprofit funding pie.
Interesting stuff. Sort by "subject area" You'll find for 2005, $ value of grants, # of grants, &c. for a number of different subject areas "Based on all grants of $10,000 or more awarded by a national sample of 1,154 larger U.S. foundations (including 800 of the 1,000 largest ranked by total giving). For community foundations, only discretionary grants are included."
The Foundation Center also does a slice that tells you which were the top organizations funded for a given subject area and how much. Under "environment" Longwood Gardens, PA, received $27m and Greenwood Gardens and Nature Center, NJ, received $15m (both in the top ten), but then you notice that each of those totals was from a single grant, which probably means that someone with a donor-directed fund sent a whopping check to a pet project.