Charitable giving is up in North Carolina.
The Secretary of State's office, which regulates charitable solicitations, released its annual report Monday on how much charities in North Carolina received in donations during the 2022-2023 fiscal year, between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023, and how those funds are used.
“Overall giving to charitable solicitation licensed entities for the 2022-2023 fiscal year totaled almost $58.1 million,” Secretary of State Elaine Marshall said at a press conference Monday. “That is a $10.4 million increase from overall giving in this state for the year 2021 to 2022.”
The report is a snapshot of how different groups use the funds through professional fundraisers. For example, funds can go to administrative office salaries rather than towards the actual cause itself, such as feeding homeless people.
The 2021-2022 fiscal year saw a record high in the percentage of donations going to charitable programs, but that dropped slightly this year.
“We truly believe that that is because of inflation, the cost of actually providing the services,” Marshall said.
The report also found that there was also a nearly $5 million increase in the amount going directly to charity programs. Marshall said on top of that, North Carolina beat the national trend compared to states across the nation that give an annual report.