Reasons for giving vary

What's opening the checkbooks of the nation's rich?
•They've got plenty to give. There are 371 billionaires in the USA, worth $1.1 trillion, more than even before, according to Forbes' annual list of the world's richest people. And a strong stock market "gives confidence in the future," the director of Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy says. "It creates the environment in which people feel they can give away that kind of money."
•They're being asked for more. Knowing the money is there, universities, hospitals and other non-profit organizations are setting higher fundraising targets.
•It's that time of life — or death. Four of the 21 gifts of $100 million or more were bequests from people who died last year. Big donors usually don't start giving until they reach their 60s, says Kathleen McCarthy, director of the Center on Philanthropy at the City University of New York Graduate Center. That means the baby-boom generation is on the cusp of its most generous age.
•They listen to Warren Buffett. Call it the Buffett Effect, after the investor's widely publicized gift in June. Buffett, known to investors as the "Oracle of Omaha," could be as influential in philanthropy as he has been in finance. His pledge, at the current value of his company's stock, is the equivalent of nearly 17% of the annual charitable giving of the entire nation: about $260 billion.
"The great, highly visible stories of Gates, Buffett, Google.org — I think that does have a huge impact. Philanthropy is contagious," says Adam Meyerson, president of the Philanthropy Roundtable. "It reminds business leaders that philanthropy is part of what it means to be a business leader in this country."

[Excerpt of an article by Martha T. Moore, USA Today]