"'Americans have given more than a half-billion to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The pace of giving is unprecedented in recent American history,' reports The Chronicle of Philanthropy on its Web site. 'In the 10 days after Sept. 11, Americans donated $239 million to charitable causes, and in the nine days after the tsunamis hit, major American relief groups raised $163 million.'

But the challenge for the American charitable spirit remains enormous. The Chronicle says the total contributions have not yet come close to the total raised for those two previous disasters, about $2.2 billion for 9/11 and U.S. charities collecting about $1.3 billion for the tsunamis.

The Chronicle says charities are worried about how the economic fallout -- the one that's coming -- will affect long-term fund raising."

Get the Story:
Mark Trahant: Taxing America's capacity for charity (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 9/11)

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