Despite the sluggish economic recovery in the United States and war clouds in the Middle East, total U.S. contributions to worthy causes have remained strong, The Conference Board reports today in its annual survey of corporate giving.

The Conference Board now projects a median 5% increase in U.S. cash contributions budgets in 2003, and a 1% increase in U.S. non-cash budgets.

Total U.S. giving from 205 of the largest U.S. companies and U.S. corporate foundations surveyed by The Conference Board amounted to $4.45 billion in 2002. This represents more than a third (36.5%) of the overall $12.19 billion in corporate charitable giving in the U.S. in 2002.

The Conference Board’s matched case sample (111 companies and foundations that participated in both the 2001 and 2002 editions of this study) reported a 13.72% increase in their total U.S. giving from 2001 to 2002. But median contributions declined 4.5%, from $8,400,000 in 2001 to $8,020,000 in 2002.

Giving for health and human services programs regained its position as the top priority for corporate contributions.

“The largest U.S. corporations continue to add to their contribution budgets, despite less than ideal economic conditions,” says Sophia A. Muirhead, Senior Research Associate at The Conference Board and author of the report. “The situation will continue throughout next year as well.”

Among companies and corporate foundations that provided forecasts of their international contributions budgets for 2003, budgets will hold steady with 2002 levels.

The survey also reports:

U.S. corporate giving ranged from a low of $1,000 to a high of $471.5 million, with median U.S. contributions at $4,675,363, compared to $5,547,562 in 2001, a decline of 15.72%.

U.S. corporate contributions as a percentage of domestic pretax income increased from 1% in 2001 to 1.6% in 2002.

The ratio of U.S. contributions as a median percentage of sales was 0.08% in 2002.

In 2002, median total (U.S. and international) contributions per worldwide employees was $471.

In 2002, U.S. non-cash giving surpassed U.S. corporate foundation giving and, for the first time, accounted for the largest portion of U.S. corporate contributions (35% of overall giving).

Total overseas charitable contributions declined from $701 million in 2001 to $633 million in 2002.

Among companies that maintained corporate foundations, 91% made gifts to their foundations in 2002, up from 41% in 2001. While individual gifts varied widely in size (from $100,000 to $96 million), the median value of these gifts was $4 million, up from $3.6 million.