The Blackbaud Index also reported that the recently debuted Foundations Index grew 0.9% in the three months ending in July 2015, compared to the same period in 2014. The new index includes — does not track as separate categories — giving to community foundations; corporate foundations; private foundations, including family foundations; and operating foundations. To learn more, download the latest Blackbaud Index and Foundations Index Trends report.

The Blackbaud Index provides the most up-to-date information on charitable giving today. Tracking more than $17 billion in US-based charitable giving, the Index is updated on the first of each month (or the next business day) and is based on a three-month moving average of year-over-year percent change. Featuring overall and online giving, the Index can be viewed by size and subsets of the nonprofit industry via an interactive online chart. The Index also features a fundraising benchmark calculator that allows users to easily chart their own results against the Index and historical data to provide a fuller view of charitable giving.