The nation's largest nonprofits had a 13 percent jump in contributions last year, according to a survey conducted by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. The increase was the largest gain since the Chronicle began the annual survey in 1991.
The Salvation Army captured the top position for the eighth straight year with donations of gifts and goods reaching nearly $1.2 billion, according to the survey.
The 13 percent increase in giving to large nonprofits follows a 12 percent increase the previous year.
Donations to the Salvation Army in 1997 were 16 percent above what the organization received the previous year and more than double the amount received by second-place YMCA of the USA, according to the survey of the 400 largest U.S. charities.
The YMCA received $493 million in donations last year, slightly ahead of contributions to the American Red Cross, the survey reports.
Rounding out the top 10 nonprofit groups:
The Philanthropy 400 survey records only private gifts to the largest U.S. charities. These nonprofit groups receive about 20 percent of all charitable donations in the nation, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.
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archive/1998/10/31/state2126EST0248.DTL
