While celebrity philanthropists tend to dominate the headlines, charities are waking up to the importance of cultivating a base of modest givers.

• Many organizations are responding to the recession by casting a wider net for more donors who can give smaller amounts.
• Fidelity Investments, which houses the largest pool of donor-advised funds, used to require all outgoing donations be at least $100. A year ago they dropped the minimum to $50.
• Small grants have produced some of the more important success stories, including the $96,691 that the Ford Foundation gave to Mohammed Yunus to found the Grameen Bank (which specializes in providing financial services, including microcredit, to impoverished people in Bangladesh).

Facts & Figures

• March of Dimes recently raised $6 million at Kmart checkout lines, where shoppers were asked to add a manageable $1 donation to their purchase.
• Global Giving, an online fundraising organization, has raised $22 million since it started in 2002, with an average donation of just $54.
• After the disastrous Southeast Asian tsunami in 2004, Americans gave $2.78 billion in aid. The median gift was $50; the average gift was $135.

Best Quote

“We are deluded by the attention paid to the large contributors in our country. Small checks coming through the mail are the bread and butter for most organizations.” – Wendy Smith, Author of Give a Little: How Your Small Donations Can Transform the World

Tags: philanthropy, recession