The Top Ten...

Most supported charities:

In this year's Philanthropy 400, United Way of America
was again No. 1, with more than 1,300 local United Ways
reporting $4-billion in contributions last year, a 3.9-
percent increase over 2004.

The Salvation Army held onto the No. 2 spot, raising $3.6-
billion, more than double what it did in 2004. The charity
was a major beneficiary of donations to help Hurricane
Katrina victims and also received a large distribution from
the estate of Joan B. Kroc, the wife of the McDonald's founder.
And even though many fund raisers worried that last year's
disasters would depress year-end giving, the Army's Red
Kettle drive in November and December raised a record
$111-million, up from $102-million in 2004.

The AmeriCares Foundation, which received $1.3-billion,
mostly in donated goods to distribute overseas, was No. 3.
The American Red Cross, which fell out of the top 10 for the
first time on last year's Philanthropy 400 list, vaulted back
up to No. 4, by raising $1.3-billion, including $553-million in
response to the tsunamis and another $128- million for
hurricane-relief efforts. However, because of the timing of its
fiscal year, those figures do not include gifts in response to
Katrina and two other hurricanes. Those contributions —
some $2.1-billion — will be reported in next year's survey.

The American Cancer Society (No. 5) raised $929.6-million last
year, a 7-percent increase. The remaining top 10 charities in
the survey were the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund (No. 6); Gifts
In Kind International (No. 7); the YMCA (No. 8); Feed the
Children (No. 9); and the Tulsa Community Foundation (No. 10),
which raised $791.3-million last year, more than any other
community foundation in the country.

The foundation was one of 27 charities where donations rose by
more than 100 percent last year. Some of those soaring increases
were the result of fund raising for disasters.

Fifty charities in the survey reported contributions in response to
Hurricane Katrina totaling $335.7-million last year, with a median
of $772,000.

Fifty-four charities reported receiving $1.7-billion in 2005 in
response to the tsunamis, with a median of $3.3-million.

Donations to Philanthropy 400 groups, at $62.7-billion, accounted
for more than $1 out of every $4 raised by charities last year. And
as a whole, their contributions rose at a much faster rate than
giving grew overall. Americans gave $260.3-billion to charities in
2005, an increase of 2.7 percent after inflation, according to Giving
USA, the annual measure of philanthropy published by the Giving
USA Foundation. To be included in this year's Philanthropy 400,
charities had to raise at least $37.7-million last year.

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