Who gives, and how much

The most affluent Americans, with incomes above $200,000 and seven-figure or higher net worths, "devoted 7.5 cents out of their charitable dollar to the arts during 2009, compared to a penny for the population at large," reports Mike Boehm on the Los Angeles Times' Culture Monster blog.

Boehm cites a "Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy" by Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, which also found that the recession led to a 35 percent decline in philanthropic giving by high-income donors between 2007 and 2009:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2010/11/rich-arts-charity-merrill-lynch.html