Top 1 percent wary on giving to charity

Giving seems robust whenever Warren Buffett and Bill Gates announce mega-gifts.

But there's room for more donors. Last year, 1.3 million individual Americans are in the exclusive club of those whose incomes are in the top 1 percent, earning more than $328,000 that year, according to the Tax Foundation in Washington.

However, even in a generous nation like America, giving has been flat for the past half-century, at about 2 percent of GDP and income," notes the Catalogue for Philanthropy, which promotes small charities.

Manywith high incomes still worry about having enough money, and some distrust charities, according to a survey done by the Luxury Institute, a New York research firm, which found that 11 percent of respondents have no plans to donate to charity, and another 15 percent were uncertain.