National trends make local Big Give even more remarkable

McCook-area residents came through in a big way again for the Big Give last month, giving $147,000 once all the contributions were tallied.

More than 700 individual donations were made this year, ranging from $1 to four figures, and included donations of grain and funds from IRA accounts.

Those donations were leveraged by generous local sponsors including MNB Bank, MNB Insurance, MNB Financial Services, the Graff Charitable Foundation, Great Western Bank and Community Hospital.

The money will be doled out by the Community Chest to 29 local non-profit organizations that work all year to make McCook a better place to live.

We should never take the generosity of our community for granted, and there’s more reason than ever.

McCook’s Community Chest replaced a local United Way effort, and that organization, which admittedly has had its own public relation problems, reports a worldwide 28 percent decline in giving over the past 10 years.

An official blamed changes in society such as workers with massive amounts of student debt, who are starting families later and staying in parents’ homes longer, making them less likely to give.

Charity officials are also blaming the 2017 tax law, which doubled the standard deduction to $24,000 for married couples filing jointly. That makes taxpayers less likely to itemize on their tax returns, which in turn makes charitable contributions less attractive.

Individual giving declined 1.1% in 2018 to $292.09 billion, down 2.4% adjusted for inflation, according to Giving USA 2019. Individual giving, as a percentage of total giving, dropped from 70% in 2017 to 68% in 2018.

That was the first decline in individual giving since 2013, a strong reversal from the 5.7% increase in 2017, according to the report.

There were other factors, of course, including a decline in the stock market for 2018.

Time will tell whether the national trend in declining giving will continue, but we’ll bet our neighbors will continue to be generous, regardless of what their tax accountants say.