Giving Makes Biggest Annual Jump in Giving USA’s 70 Years

By Amanda L. Cole

In a sharp turn from the past years’ downward trend, charitable giving increased in 2024, the Giving USA Foundation, a public service initiative of The Giving Institute, revealed today in its 70th annual report that breaks down the previous year’s donations across the United States.

Donations to nonprofits grew 6.3% to $592.5 billion last year, according to “Giving USA 2025: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2024.” Worries of economic uncertainty never materialized, with the report measuring the highest increase in current dollars in its 70-year history. Researchers credited this to stock market gains and GDP growth.

Even when adjusted for inflation, gains measured 3.3% — the first positive trend in three years. Most giving and mission types also increased.

Overall growth closely mirrored the 40-year average of 5.5% growth in current dollars, or 2.7% after adjusting for inflation.

“Total giving in 2024 reached record levels in current dollars and grew at a rate consistent with long-term trends — clear evidence of Americans’ enduring generosity and the value they place on nonprofit work,” Wendy McGrady, chair of Giving USA Foundation, and president and chief operating officer of The Curtis Group, said in a statement. “Even as many organizations face ongoing uncertainty, this year’s Giving USA data offers a strong baseline for understanding where philanthropy stands today — and how donors continue to show up for the causes they care about. We will keep listening to the field, but one truth remains: Generosity is alive and well in America.”

Researchers from The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy rely on tax data, economic indicators, foundation data from Candid and more to determine estimates for giving in this report. Here’s a closer look at the breakdown of these numbers across giving types and nonprofit subsectors.

Giving Types

Of the four types of giving that Giving USA tracks, three experienced increases in current dollars, with individual and corporate dollars being mostly responsible for the spike in overall giving last year.

Individual giving jumped 8.2% — 5.1% when adjusted for inflation — to $392.45 billion. Researchers attributed increases in the stock market and personal income for the rise in individual giving, which makes up two-thirds of giving.

That is slightly higher than the 3.5% comparative figure the Fundraising Effectiveness Project released in its April report, which is based on data from various donor management software providers. That data also attributed gains in giving to the most generous donors, who account for 78% of individual giving dollars, but just 3% of individual donors.

“We see the strength and resilience of charitable giving in a year like 2024, as growth in total giving returned,” Amir Pasic, Ph.D., the Eugene R. Tempel Dean of the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, said in a statement. “The role of the individual donor cannot be overstated. Individuals were responsible for the largest share of all donations made last year, and they continue to play a central role in our nation’s philanthropic sector.”

In 2024, corporate giving reached its highest level — $44.4 billion — on record in both current and inflation-adjusted dollars. That figure also had the greatest jump among the four giving types with 9.1% — or 6% when adjusted for inflation. Strong gross domestic product and corporate pre-tax profits contributed to the bump, according to the researchers. Corporate giving maintained about 7.5% of total giving.

Foundations, which comprised about 18.5% of total giving, also had a small uptick of 2.4% last year. However, after adjusting for inflation, foundation giving was flat year over year. The strong stock market in 2024 increased foundations’ assets, according to researchers, pushing foundation grantmaking to $109.81 billion. This contributed to foundations’ streak of more than $100 billion donated for the third consecutive year.

Bequests, which maintained 8% of total giving but have variability from year to year, fell slightly to $45.84 billion in 2024. This translates to a 1.6% drop, or 4.4% when adjusted for inflation.

“Overall, it was [a] solid year in economic terms, with most of the economic indicators that affect giving showing broad growth,” Una Osili, Ph.D., associate dean for research and international programs at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, said in a statement. “Financial and economic security drives increases in giving — people give when they feel financially and economically secure — and that occurred in 2024. While inflation moderated, it remained higher than the rates to which Americans previously had been accustomed. Its lingering impact may have continued to affect everyday donors’ giving.”

Nonprofit Subsectors

Though each mission type grew in current dollars, seven of the nine subsectors Giving USA tracks surged after adjusting for inflation. Four of those subsectors also achieved all-time highs.

While religion remains in the No. 1 spot with $146.54 billion, giving to religious organizations fell 1% when adjusted for inflation. The only other subsector to not see positive gains is giving to foundations, which ranked fourth and was relatively flat at $71.92 billion.

Education (No. 3), public-societal benefit (No. 5) and international affairs (No. 7) all achieved double-digit growth in current dollars and rebounded from year-over-year losses in 2023. When adjusted for inflation, public-societal benefit jumped 16.1% to $66.84 billion, international affairs increased 14.3% to $35.54 billion and education leaped 9.9% to $88.32 billion.

The remaining subsectors that had gains in 2024 when adjusting for inflation include art, culture and humanities with a 6.4% leap to $25.13 billion; environment and animals with a 4.6% spike to $21.57 billion; human services with a 2% increase to $91.15 billion; and health with a 2% bump to $60.51 billion.

“The broad increases in giving across subsectors show that philanthropy and the nonprofit sectors were thriving in 2024,” Gabe Cooper, vice chair of Giving USA Foundation, and founder and CEO of Virtuous, said in a statement. “This growth demonstrates robust donor support for a myriad of causes.”