National Philanthropic Trust "Charitable Giving Statistics"

General Philanthropy

• Americans gave $557.16 billion in 2023. This reflects a 2.1% decline from 2022.¹
• Corporate giving in 2023 increased to $36.55 billion—a 3.0% increase from 2022.¹
• Foundation giving in 2023 increased to $103.53 billion—a 1.7% increase from 2022.¹
• Giving by bequest in 2023 was $42.68 billion—a 8.0% increase from 2022.¹
• In 2023, the largest source of charitable giving came from individuals, who gave $374.40 billion, representing 67% of total giving.¹
• In 2023, the majority of charitable dollars went to religion (24%), human services (14%), education (14%), grantmaking foundations (13%) and public-society benefit (10%).¹
• Giving in 2023 increased in many sectors, with double-digit growth in gifts for foundations (15.4%), public-society benefit (11.6%) and education (11.1%). Giving declined precipitously to individuals (-17.2%).¹

Individual and Family Philanthropy

• For middle income earners, the average yearly charitable donation is approximately $3,296.²
• The average charitable donor in the U.S. is 64 years old and makes two charitable donations a year.³
• The average high net worth households donated $34,917 to nonprofits in 2022.⁴
• 85 percent of affluent households maintained or increased their giving in 2022, with the top motivation for giving reported as personal values and beliefs (69.5%).⁴
• Younger people want to forge their own philanthropic identity separate from their parents, said 88% of young women and 69% of young men surveyed.⁵
• The majority of donors (64%) prefer to give online with either a credit or debit card.⁶

Charitable Organizations

• According to the most recent data available, there are more than 1.8 million recognized 501(c) organizations in the United States.⁷
• In 2023, 501(c)(3) organizations made up the majority of 501(c) organizations in the U.S., with 1.5 million.⁷
• As of 2017, there were more than 12 million people employed in the U.S. nonprofit sector.⁸
• There are approximately 340K religious, 255K educational, 154K human services, 129K arts & culture and 64.5K public-society benefit nonprofit organizations in the U.S. in 2024. The least common nonprofit category, with only 9 reported, is mutual assistance research institutes.⁹

Volunteering

• An estimated 23.2% of U.S. adults—60.7 million Americans—volunteered between September 2020 and 2021, contributing an estimated 4.1 billion hours valued at approximately $122.9 billion.¹⁰
• Generation X had the highest rate of formal volunteering (27%) compared to Gen Z, Millennials, and Baby Boomers.¹⁰
• Baby Boomers had the highest rate of informal volunteering (59%).¹⁰
• Most people volunteer through a nonprofit organization (61%), but others volunteer through helping someone directly (29%), a religious organization (24%), civic organizations (22%), the workplace (10%), or a school where they’re enrolled (9%).¹¹

Donor-Advised Funds

• There were 1,948,545 donor-advised fund accounts in 2022.¹²
• Donor-advised funds held $228.89 billion in assets in 2022.¹²
• Total contributions into donor-advised funds were $85.53 billion in 2022.¹²
• Donor-recommended grants from donor-advised funds totaled more than $52.16 billion to charities in 2022.¹²
• The average donor-advised fund account size was $117,466 in 2022.¹²
• The average payout rate for DAFs was 22.5% in 2022.¹²
• Compare the DAF payout rate to the mean payout rate of foundations in 2023: 7.5%.¹³

Sources

¹Giving USA 2023 Annual Report

²Internal Revenue Service, Tax Policy Center

³Nonprofit Fundraising Statistics to Boost Results in 2024 (doublethedonation.com)

⁴Charitable Giving by Affluent Households Above Pre-Pandemic Levels

⁵Chronicle of Philanthropy – Wealthy Donors Want Their Giving to Be Different Than Their Parents’, New Study Says

⁶US Charitable Giving Statistics [2023] (reninc.com)

⁷Internal Revenue Service, 2023

⁸U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics (data modified in 2020)

⁹Categories of nonprofits | Cause IQ

¹⁰AmeriCorps – Volunteering and Civic Life in America Research Summary (covering 2020-2021)

¹¹VolunteerMatch – How People Volunteered in 2022

¹²National Philanthropic Trust – Donor Advised Fund Report 2023

¹³Foundation giving remained steady in 2023. What’s the outlook? (candid.org)

2020 Giving Stats

General Philanthropy

1. Americans gave $471.44 billion in 2020. This reflects a 5.1% increase from 2019.¹
2. Corporate giving in 2020 decreased to $16.88 billion—a 6.1% decrease from 2019.¹
3. Foundation giving in 2020 increased to $88.55 billion—a 19% increase from 2019.¹
4. In 2020, the largest source of charitable giving came from individuals at $324.10 billion, or 69% of total giving. In five of the last six years, charitable giving by individuals has grown.
5. Other sources of charitable giving were giving by foundations ($88.55 billion/19% of the total share of American giving), bequests ($41.91 billion/9%), and corporations ($16.88 billion/4%).¹
6. In 2020, the majority of charitable dollars went to religion (28%), education (15%), human services (14%), grantmaking foundations (12%) and public-society benefit (10%).¹
7. Giving in 2020 increased in nearly every sector, with double-digit growth in gifts for public-society benefit (15.7%), environment/animals (11.6%) and individuals (12.8%).¹
8. Charitable giving accounted for 2.3% of gross domestic product in 2020.1
9. Corporations are more likely to give when the stock market is up because stock market values are an indicator of financial and economic security.¹

Individual and Family Philanthropy

1. 86 percent of affluent households maintained or increased their giving despite uncertainty about further spread of COVID-193
2. Adults are more likely to give to charity if their parents gave to charity.⁴

Charitable Organizations

1. According to the most recent data available, there are more than 1.54 million charitable organizations in the United States.⁵
2. Sources of revenue for tax-exempt organizations in 2012 were program service revenues, including government contracts and fees (73%), contributions, gifts, & government grants (21%) and lastly, dues, special event income, rental income and net sales from goods (6%).⁵

Volunteering

1. An estimated 25.1 percent of US adults volunteered in 2017, contributing an estimated 8.8 billion hours, valued at approximately $195.0 billion.⁵
2. Approximately 77 million Americans—30% of the adult population—volunteer their time, talents, and energy to making a difference.⁶
3. The top four national volunteer activities are fundraising or selling items to raise money (36.0%); food collection or distribution (34.2%); collecting, making or distributing clothing, crafts or other goods (26.5%); and mentoring youth (26.2%).⁶
4. The top four types of organizations by volunteering are: religious (32.0%); sport, hobby, cultural or arts (25.7%); educational or youth service (19.2%); and civic, political, professional or international (6.2%).⁶

Donor-Advised Funds

1. There were 1,005,099 donor-advised fund accounts in 2020.⁸
2. Donor-advised funds held $159.83 billion in assets in 2020.⁸
3. Annual contributions into donor-advised funds were $47.85 billion in 2020.⁸
4. Donors recommended grants from donor-advised funds totaled more than $34.67 billion to charities in 2020.⁸
5. Average donor-advised fund account size was $159,019 in 2020.⁸ Sources

¹ Giving USA 2021 Annual Report

² Candid 2020 Annual Report

³ Affluent Americans Expand Generosity During the Pandemic

⁴ Indiana University Lilly School of Philanthropy Women’s Philanthropy Institute | Women Give 18: Transmitting Generosity to Daughters and Sons

⁵ The Urban Institute | National Center for Charitable Statistics 2019

⁶ The Corporation for National and Community Service

⁷ Independent Sector

⁸ National Philanthropic Trust - Donor Advised Fund Report 2021