In an era that celebrates the stock market and private enterprise, the fact that benevolence is a growth industry is often overlooked. But the number of charitable organizations is greater than ever. And more and more individuals are treating charitable giving as a core part of their long-term financial plan, much like investing for retirement. The number of nonprofit foundations has more than doubled since 1980, and nearly three-fifths of the nation's largest were created in the last two decades.
Generosity is on the rise, too.
Two factors suggest these figures will dramatically swell in coming decades. For one thing, scholars have long noted that the health of the economy exerts a powerful influence over giving. The economy's long-term growth rate has improved over the last decade, thanks to globalization and the Internet. Take this striking example of growth's potential impact on charitable giving. The other force affecting charitable giving is the ongoing democratization of finance.