The Annual Report on Philanthropy for 2021, created by the Giving USA Foundation and the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, estimates that charitable giving totaled $484.85 billion in 2021, up from the revised total in 2020 of $466.23 billion. The report indicates that while overall philanthropic giving increased by 4% annually in 2021, after accounting for inflation, it actually decreased by 0.7%.
Giving by individuals increased by 4.9% (0.2% when adjusted for inflation) to an estimated $326.87 billion; giving by foundations increased by 3.4% (-1.2%) to an estimated $90.88 billion, and giving by corporations increased by 23.8% (18.3%) to an estimated $21.08 billion. Bequests reached an estimated $46.01 billion, a fall of 7.3% when looking more closely at individual gifting (-11.4%). Some of the wealthiest Americans gave generous presents worth nearly $15 billion. About 5% of all individual giving in 2021 was made up of these mega-gifts, which Giving USA 2022 defines as gifts of $450 million or more. These gifts were crucial in increasing individual giving.
Giving to public-society benefit organizations saw the most significant increase, growing 23.5% (17.9%), followed by environmental and animal organizations, up 11.0% (6.1%), gifts to foundations, up 9.3% (4.4%), health, up 7.7% (2.9%), religion, up 5.4% (flat at 0.7%), and human services, up 2. In terms of issue area, giving to the arts, culture, and humanities showed the largest increase, growing 27.5% (21.8%, adjusted for inflation (-2.4%). Donating to education is predicted to have decreased 2.8% while giving to support foreign affairs was stable in current dollars at 0% growth (-4.5% when adjusted for inflation) (-7.2%).
“The United States had a prosperous year in 2021, as well as inflationary pressures not seen in many years. Despite the positive performance of the stock market in 2021, Una Osili, Associate Dean for research and international programs at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, said that some economic factors might have had an impact on the operations of nonprofits, such as labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, and persistently high demand for services. The bulk of the subsectors will expand in 2021, which serves as a reminder of the resiliency and creativity that power the charitable sector.
Learn more about obtaining major gifts by attending the Sunshine Certificate in Nonprofit Management class on Campaigning to Potential-Part II (Sustainability – Big Gifts) Monday, July 25 at 5:30 pm.
Source: Giving USA Foundation – https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/giving-was-flat-in-2021-after-adjusting-for-inflation-report-finds
Find out more about: “Giving USA: Total U.S. charitable giving remained strong in 2021, reaching $484.85 billion.” Giving USA Foundation press release 06/21/2022.
Click here to download a copy of the infographic from Giving USA.
Source: Candid.org Candid has been a preferred partner since 2018 when Florida Nonprofits became a outlet for the Foundation Center Funding Network.
