Commentary: Increase in Charitable Donations Is Cause for Celebration

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Donations to America's biggest charities grew by 11.6 percent last year, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

This year has already been a strong fund-raising year for many groups. At the 79 charities that provided fund-raising totals for the 2005 fiscal year, contributions grew by a median 7.3 percent, meaning that half achieved bigger fund-raising gains and half did worse.

Although many people in philanthropy have been worrying about the effects of the spate of natural disasters around the world, few charities say they have seen a big slowdown in contributions because donors are giving to relief efforts.

Indeed, many of the nation's …