Every year, the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University produces an annual “state of giving” report called Giving USA. The findings are eagerly anticipated by fundraisers near and far — and for good reason.
It’s critically important to understand who is giving and giving trends for fundraisers to do their work responsibly. It is reassuring to know that individuals continue to give generously and consistently.
The report’s lead researcher, Una Osili, Associate Dean for Research and International Programs at the Lilly School, shared the findings via webinar. If you’re interested in the complete read, the full report is available for purchase.
While Una presented the facts and their significance over the course of the webinar, I’ve added my interpretation and opinions in the highlights below.
8 Giving USA 2022 Report Highlights
The report overall is consistent with past years and has fairly good and unsurprising news. Here are my key takeaways as noted in the webinar.
1. Giving is up!
2021 was a record year for generosity. Americans gave $484.85 Billion to charity.
2. Individual giving continues to reign supreme.
Individual donors are giving approximately 88% of charitable dollars (including gifts from family foundations and bequests). Here are how the numbers break down:
- Individuals — 67%
- Individuals via bequest — 9%
- Foundations — 19% (with approximately half from small family foundations, which I consider the same as individual donors)
- Corporations — 4%
These statistics have remained relatively consistent over the last 10+ years.
3. Mega gifts from individual donors represented 5% of total giving.
I expected it to be more, so I’m somewhat relieved. That means the non-ultra-wealthy are giving most of the charitable gifts.
4. Foundations increasingly gave unrestricted gifts.
Additionally, they simplified their application process. That’s good news all around. As fundraisers, we’ve been hoping for operating funds and unrestricted giving for as long as foundations have existed.
5. Approximately 50% of Americans gave to charity last year.
So what was the gift average? $2,581. While it would be better if all Americans gave to charity, 50% isn’t terrible. Although we don’t want to see it drop below 50%.
6. Pre-pandemic level giving returns.
In 2021, giving to health, arts, and humanities grew to pre-pandemic levels. They saw a dip in 2020 — likely due to the cancellation of fundraising events and activities.
7. Giving to certain sectors grew for two consecutive years.
Giving to certain sectors — environment and animal welfare, public society, and foundations — grew for two consecutive years. However, that includes giving to DAFs, which means this statistic ought to be taken with a grain of salt.
8. Online giving surpassed 10% of all giving for the first time.
And yet, it remains shockingly low, all things considered. A decade ago, I might have predicted that online giving would account for 25% of giving by now. It’s less than half of that at a meager 12%.
Ho-Hum Results? What Do You Think?
Sadly, the findings are always a bit disappointing to me — even the good news. What I mean is, in the last 20 years with the professionalization of fundraising, we really haven’t moved the needle as a sector all that much. The results always seem a bit ho-hum. I don’t want to imagine what the report would look like without all of the progress we’ve made and the hard work you’ve put in!
No news is good news…
While it’s nice to know the statistics, facts, and figures of philanthropy, the findings haven’t changed drastically in the last decade (or more). I suppose you might say it’s a story of no news is good news. Although I would like to see our efforts have more of an impact on giving.
I should note that our clients at the Capital Campaign Toolkit have seen dramatic and impressive increases in their campaign gifts and goals. While the statistics may not be overly impressive, stories of individual clients paint another picture. Those doing capital campaigns the right way made huge leaps in their fundraising over the last two years.
And I know that for a fact.
Apart from my own personal account, there were no real surprises in this year’s report. Same as last year… and the year before. Even snapshots of the last 20 years show modest inclines or declines in any given category. And that, itself, is noteworthy.
So what are your thoughts on these findings? Share them in the comments below.
It would be great if you spelled out acronyms like DAF–there’s always someone who doesn’t know what they mean and for very little effort you would improve communication.
Amy, I think your insight is strong. Really there is not much more money available to non-profit causes. It seems the funds stay the same over at least a decade and the issues seem to grow exponentially. What does that say about our causes. At the current rate there will be no end to the issues, like poverty. We have to find ways outside of just dollars and cents to see our communities change. The question I ask is, “what have I done today to help my fellow human?” “Can I do one more smile, hug, prayer, or encouragement today?”
I want to believe I have capacity for that one more thing! Let’s believe for more.