What gives: How America's donations shape the charity sector

What gives: How America's donations shape the charity sector

11/27/23 7:00PM

Giving Tuesday

‍If you’re feeling charitable, it might be a good time to part with some of your hard-earned cash for a worthy cause. Today is Giving Tuesday, an event devoted to transforming the world through generosity and “the power of people and organizations”, following indulgence over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Despite being one of the most charitable countries in the world, donations in America have actually been waning recently. Indeed, last year, Americans gave the lowest proportion of their personal disposable income to charity since 1995, at just 1.7%. That equated to a total donations slump of some 11%, dropping total charitable giving to $499bn — the first inflation-adjusted decline since the Great Recession.

Nonprofit margins

The downturn is in part explained by the cash crunch the average American has endured in the face of inflation: generally, the majority of giving derives from individual donations, making up anywhere from 60-75% of overall giving in the US since 2000.

Even so, the Charities Aid Foundation reported that the US was the world’s most generous country over the 10 years to 2019... although it has slipped to 5th place as of 2022.

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