Giving Data: Giving USA 2024 and Five Charitable Giving Trends

The Giving USA Foundation has released the key findings from Giving USA 2024: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2023, with the full report written by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy expected to be available in mid-July, and the Urban Institute has posted Five Charitable Giving Trends to Watch, written by Hannah Martin and Laura Tomasko (both with the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute).  

Among the key findings from Giving USA 2024 are:

• Individuals, bequests, foundations and corporations gave an estimated $557.16 billion to U.S. charities in 2023.

• Total giving grew 1.9% in current dollars, reaching a new high by that measure. Nevertheless, growth in total giving did not outpace the higher-than-average (4.1%) inflation rate: adjusted for inflation, giving declined by 2.1%. The increase in current dollars was buoyed by the stock market and GDP – both performed better than many economists initially expected in 2023.

• Total giving has not yet surpassed the all-time inflation-adjusted high set in 2021.

And here are the five charitable giving trends identified by the Urban Institute:

• Donor-advised funds (DAFs) are an increasingly popular tool for giving.

• Individual cash donations are declining.

• Donations of noncash assets are rising.

• Workplace giving is changing.

• Mutual aid and crowdfunding are losing momentum.

See the links above for more details from both reports.

Lloyd Mayer