Germans Donate Record Amounts

According to a poll conducted by the German Donations Council, people in the country have made a record amount of charitable contributions in the past 12 months. From July 2004 to July 2005, some 2.6 billion euros ($3.15 billion) were donated to charitable organizations. On average, one in four Germans gave money four to five times per year, an amount higher than ever before, said the council's chairman, Willi Haas. Besides the financial contributions, one in every two Germans donated their time to clubs and other organizations. According to the survey, humanitarian causes were far and above the largest recipients (84.5 percent), with cultural and monument preservations societies (4.8 percent), environmental protection (2.8 percent) and animal protection (2.1 percent) far behind. The council attributed the generous amount of donations primarily to the tsunami disaster in December 2004. In that month and January 2005 alone, over 1.1 billion euros were donated.