Donations to charities grew about 4.5 percent in the 2007 fiscal year which ended in July for most groups, to what sounds like a reassuring $72.5 billion. The data is from an annual survey of the 400 charities that raise the most from private sources, done by The Chronicle of Philanthropy, a biweekly publication that covers the nonprofit sector.

But that number doesn’t reflect the sudden downturn in donations these last few months, as large financial institutions and historically generous donors have collapsed, dozens of states have announced huge budget deficits, many municipalities are cutting their support of social service agencies — and some nonprofit agencies are facing a drop in individual contributions.

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