Religion Losing Significantly
Philanthropic Giving in 2024: $592.50 Billion

Giving USA has released its report on giving in 2024. You may have seen the headlines: current dollar giving was up 6.3% and reached its highest level ever. When adjusted for inflation, 2024 was the second highest year ever (2021 pandemic giving is still the peak). All sectors tracked by Giving USA saw increases in current dollars. Giving by individuals increased by 8.2%, giving by foundations increased by 2.4%, and giving by corporations increased by 9.1%. That is the 30,000-foot view, and it’s all good news for the sector. Of course, if you are a follower of this newsletter, you already know that giving tends to follow the movement of the S&P 500; if you don’t live in a cave, you know that the S&P had a really good 2023 and 2024.

But if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find some interesting things in this report.

1. Giving to Religion continues to plummet as a percentage of total giving. In 1984, contributions to religion comprised 62% of overall giving, while the next highest subsector was still education at 11%. Giving to religion dominated the pie chart, nearly 600% higher than the next largest recipient sector. Fast forward to 2024, and giving to religion stands at just 23%, the lowest level since Giving USA began tracking it in the 1950s. It has lost almost two-thirds of its “market share.” In second place, tied with human services, is education, which has grown from 11% in 1984 to 14% today. While this increase is not substantial compared to the 1984 level, the percentage of giving to religion is now only 100% larger than that for education, compared to 600% 40 years ago. What is particularly interesting is that all other subsectors have experienced moderate growth in their share of the pie over the past 40 years. It’s not as if one sector has absorbed all the giving that was once directed to religion. When comparing 1984 to 2024 in the other sectors, it looks like this:

• Education: 1984=11%  2024=14%  (+4%)

• Human Services: 1984= 6%  2024=14%  (+8%)

• Foundations: 1984=6%  2024=11%  (+5%)

• Health: 1984=7%  2024= 10%  (+3%)

• Public/Society Benefit: 1984=8%  2024=11%  (+3%)

• Arts: 1984=3%  2024= 4%  (+1)

• Religion :1984=62%  2024=23%  (-39%)

As you can see, an 8% increase is the largest gain, even though religion has seen a 39% decline. This indicates that it’s not another sector experiencing significant growth; rather, it is religion that is losing substantially. This trend has remained constant and steady over the past three decades, and I see no signs of it slowing down. There are a myriad of reasons (excuses) for this: declining church attendance, a general lack of religiousness among younger generations, and so on. However, I have asserted—and will continue to argue—that a major factor in this issue is that churches, by and large, have failed to take fundraising seriously. Few churches have full-time development staff, and most still depend on “guilt giving” instead of established, proven fundraising techniques. Churches don’t take fundraising seriously, and it’s showing—in a significant way—in the results.

2. Corporate giving reached a record-setting 7% of total giving, after hovering around 5% for over 50 years. Mind you, corporate giving is still only 1.1% of pretax profits (and has never been above 2%). However, pretax profits were up 11.4% in 2024, which is reflected in this spike in corporate giving. Let’s hope this is a trend, not an anomaly. But either way, I’m happy to see this number moving at all!  

3. Foundation giving continues to grow as a share of the total. In 2024, giving from foundations reached 19% of all giving—an all-time high. Yes, this is largely influenced by stock market performance and the elevated value of foundation assets, which they are required to distribute a portion of. It may also indicate a general growth in both the number and size of foundations. Of the 7 “mega gifts” reported by Giving USA for 2024, all exceeding $1 billion, five, totaling $9 billion, went into foundations. Only $1.17 billion (thank you, MacKenzie) was directed to the nonprofit sector. So, the increase in both the number and size of foundations, combined with the government mandate that they make gifts, is certainly a significant factor contributing to this growth.

So, overall, there was plenty of good news about the state of giving in 2024. Unless, of course, you’re in the religious sector, in which case, there is much work to do to recover.