Charitable giving in the United States fell to an estimated $307.65 billion in 2008, a drop of 2 percent from 2007, a new report from the Giving USA Foundation finds.

Researched and written by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, the report, Giving USA 2009, found that while charitable giving in the U.S. exceeded $300 billion for the second year in a row, the total was below the revised estimated total of $314.07 billion for 2007, making 2008 the first year since 1987 - and only the second since Giving USA began publishing annual reports in 1956 - that U.S. giving in current dollars declined. In inflation-adjusted dollars, the drop in giving was 5.7 percent.

"...With the United States mired in a recession throughout 2008, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that charitable giving would be down," said Giving USA Foundation chairwoman Del Martin. "However, what we find remarkable is that individuals, corporations, and foundations still provided more than $307 billion to causes they support, despite the economic conditions." Read full article.