Americans have donated roughly $298 billion to US charities last year with a 4 percent increase from 2010.
According to Giving USA Foundation and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, an estimated 117 million US households, 12 million corporations, 99,000 estates, and 76,000 foundations have given to charities last year. Most of the money went to the registered charities and religious groups.
A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.
Here are the star companies that have succeeded in their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. The companies were gathered by Civic 50, a national initiative to survey and rank S&P 500 corporations on how they engage with the communities they serve and utilize best practices in their corporate cultures.