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"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another."
—Charles Dickens
The results are in from Giving USA's 2025 report (for calendar year 2024) with a record $592.50 billion in charitable giving, a 6.9% increase in current dollars, and a 4.2% increase when adjusted for inflation.
This is the first time in three years that total giving has outpaced inflation.
Generosity —giving to others freely and abundantly —is alive and well, as donors continue to give of themselves and their financial resources to causes they care about.
Sources of giving
Giving by individuals was 66% or $392.45 billion (↑ 8.2%), foundations gave 19% or $109.81 billion (↑ 2.4%), bequests yielded 8% or $45.84 billion (↓ 1.6%), and corporations were at 7% or $44.40 billion (↑ 9.1%).
The top five destinations for those charitable dollars were Religion at $146.54 billion (↑ 1.9%), Human Services at $91.15 billion (↑ 5.0%), Education, $88.32 billion (↑ 13.2%), Foundations, $71.02 billion (↑ 3.5%), and Public-Society Benefit at $66.84 billion (↑ 19.5%).
Faith and finances
The Lake Institute found that in 2024, religion continued to generate the most giving, but was the only sector to see a decline.
"While religious organizations continue to receive the most giving across subsectors*, the proportion of giving directed toward religion has continued to gradually decline," the report stated.
Fewer congregants may explain a reduction in giving. Gallup reports that Americans are less likely to identify as members of a church, declining from 70% in 1999 to 45% in 2023. That translates into a 25% decrease in 24 years. The highest membership rate reported in survey research was 73% in 1937, indicating that the steepest declines are more recent.
What about an exodus of older members from church? In 2000, approximately 60% of Americans aged 65 and older regularly attended church services. By 2000, that figure had dropped to 45%. That's a 15-point decrease in just one generation.
Financially, older adults are pillars of strength. The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) notes that adults over 65 account for approximately 40% of all donations to U.S. churches. Their departure is felt throughout a faith community, but especially in the giving of tithes and offerings, which many consider an act of worship.
No one should rely on remote attendance to make up for any differences in giving, as about two-thirds of Americans have little to no interaction with online worship. Pew Research shows that only 14% say they participate online weekly—roughly half the rate of those who attend in person weekly.
A Mortar/Stone survey of churches found that median household giving declined from $910 in 2021 to $600 in 2024. However, the median increased by 47% in the same period among the top 1% of givers.
Surveys from Finances and Faith and EPIC report that while median church income increased from $150,000 to $165,000 since 2010, revenue would need to reach $209,603 to keep pace with inflation.
The difference is frequency
A hopeful sign comes from the Giving USA Foundation's Giving by Generation Report, which found that Millennial giving per household, which increased 22% in 2024, has surpassed that of Gen X.
Millennials report attending religious services more frequently than Gen X. That regular attendance aligns with an earlier finding from the Lake Institute, suggesting that a person's frequency of in-person worship is the single biggest indicator of overall charitable giving.
Worship service attendance and generosity are correlated worldwide, not just in the U.S., based on Gallup surveys conducted in 145 countries from 2005 to 2009.
Religion — primarily churches — remains the largest recipient of overall giving, and religious giving continues to be a philanthropic priority for many individuals in the U.S., according to Giving USA.
Philanthropy is resilient
Consider these insights and trends from the Nonprofit Leadership Center, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Nonprofit Quarterly, and consulting firm, BWF:
o Strong donor relationships and clear communication of impact remain essential. Reaffirm the case for support. Be bold and specific about why your mission matters at this time.
o Economic conditions make a big difference. Giving is linked to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), consumer confidence, stock market performance, tax policy, and donor trust. Now is the time to double down on transparency, governance, and impact reporting.
o Diversify funding streams. No one source. Prevent the organization from becoming vulnerable.
o Expansion and promotion of online giving corresponds with a higher level of giving on digital platforms.
o Charitable giving is higher, but the number of donors continues to decrease. Fewer donors are giving more money. Donor attrition and lower retention rates erode the future pipeline. AI is providing tools for retention and for identifying major gift prospects, but staff must know how to use them effectively.
o More households are not creating wills. The numbers have dropped from 24% in the 2025 report compared to 33% in the 2022 report. More than half have no estate planning at all. The wealthy are increasingly turning away from wills and toward trusts and other sophisticated estate planning vehicles.
o The two markets are baby boomers and younger generations. Donor-advised funds (DAFs), qualified charitable distributions (QCDs), and required minimum distributions (RMDs) are means to a successful fundraising end with those demographic cohorts.
An intelligent relationship
"The single biggest mistake people make in fundraising is not asking for money," says Stephanie Roth, a principal of Klein & Roth Consulting. "The next biggest mistake people make is the failure to understand that building a base of loyal donors involves much more than asking for money."
Discerning where people are in their relationship with a nonprofit is a good place to start. Donors support charities that can effect the change they seek in the world. Therefore, the importance of knowing in advance whether there's a values match between the parties cannot be overstated.
The question is, how to create that kind of relationship?
Ms. Roth answers that "Like any other relationship, donors require some attention, some thought, and some common sense to help make that relationship as strong and meaningful as possible."
*Churches, denominations, religious media, and missionary societies.
Strategist.com
© Bredholt & Co.
