“Drop in Giving Among Steepest Ever,” screamed the Chronicle of Philanthropy headline. Other media piled on. The anodyne Associated Press led with, “Charitable Giving Drops, Only the Fourth Time in 40 Years.” And the redoubtable Barron’s reported, “Charitable Giving Falls for the First Time Since the Financial Crisis.”

Is this all just hyperbole? Or does it leave you wondering if it might be time to hang it up and consider a different career path? Don’t despair. At least not yet. The release last month of the 68th Giving USA Annual Report on Philanthropy (Giving USA Report), which reported a drop of 10.5% in giving last year, triggered the hoopla. The Report is an initiative of the Giving USA Foundation in collaboration with the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

It’s too bad the Report has been reduced to a headline because, well beyond a simple scoreboard of giving, it also provides a wealth of useful information and interesting insights about the history of and trends in charitable giving in the United States.