July 1, 2025 | f rom the standing-desk ofDavid H. King | President & CEO 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. 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. 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! 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.
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Giving in 2024: $592.50 BillionProduced by the Giving USA Foundation and the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, the report, Giving USA 2025: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2024, estimates that charitable giving totaled $592.50 billion in 2024. , down from the revised total in 2021 of $516.65 billion. The report noted that declines are usually seen during years with difficult or unusual economic conditions. Giving in 2022 was influenced by stock market volatility and economic uncertainty. There was growth in three of the four sources of giving (foundations, bequests, and corporations) in 2022 in current dollars, but all four sources declined after adjusting for inflation. Giving by foundations and corporations, however, posted positive two-year growth, even when adjusting for inflation. In inflation-adjusted terms, seven of the nine subsectors experienced a decline. 
Giving by individuals comprised 66% of total giving in 2024.Between 2022 and 2023, individual giving increased by 2.0% in current dollars, and from 2023 to 2024, it rose by 8.2%. Thus, the overall change in individual giving from 2022 to 2024 is 10.4% in current dollars. Inflation-adjusted giving by individuals declined by 2.0% from 2022 to 2023. Growth in individual giving increased by 5.1% in inflation-adjusted dollars from 2023 to 2024. The cumulative change in inflation-adjusted giving by individuals from 2022 to 2024 is 3.0%.
Giving by foundations—which includes grants made by independent, community, and operating foundations—amounted to 19% of all gifts made in 2024.Current-dollar grantmaking rose by 4.9% from 2022 to 2023, and then increased by 2.4% from 2023 to 2024. The total change in current-dollar giving by foundations from 2022 to 2024 amounts to 7.4%.Adjusted for inflation, grantmaking remained steady at 0.7% from 2022 to 2023 and then held constant at -0.5% in inflation-adjusted dollars from 2023 to 2024. The total change in inflation-adjusted giving by foundations from 2022 to 2024 is 0.2%.
Giving by bequest accounted for 8% of all gifts made in 2024.Giving through bequests fell by 9.0% in current dollars from 2022 to 2023, and dropped by 1.6% from 2023 to 2024. The total change in current-dollar bequest giving from 2022 to 2024 shows a decline of 10.4%. Giving through bequests fell by 12.6% in inflation-adjusted dollars from 2022 to 2023, and decreased by 4.4% between 2023 and 2024. The total change in giving by bequests from 2022 to 2024 is -16.4% in inflation-adjusted dollars.
Giving by corporations comprised 7% of total giving in 2024.In current dollars, corporate giving grew by 12.6% from 2022 to 2023 and increased by 9.1% from 2023 to 2024. The cumulative change in corporate giving in current dollars between 2022 and 2024 is 22.9%. Inflation-adjusted corporate giving increased by 8.2% from 2022 to 2023, and by 6.0% in inflation-adjusted dollars from 2023 to 2024. The total change in inflation-adjusted corporate giving from 2022 to 2024 is 14.7%.
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Giving to the Social Service SubsectorsIn 2024, the Human Services sub-sector received the second-largest share of American philanthropy. With $91.15 billion in donations, according to Giving USA 2025. This reflects a 5% increase in current dollars and a 2% rise when adjusted for inflation. Human Services has maintained this position for two consecutive years, surpassing Education in 2023 and holding its lead in 2024. This change in donor priorities, emphasizing basic needs and community support, is attributed to pandemic-era disruptions and ongoing economic uncertainty.Here’s how the other subsectors in the social service sector performed. ReligionIn current dollars, giving stayed flat at 0.9% from 2022 to 2023 and grew by 1.9% from 2023 to 2024. In current-dollar giving increased by 2.8% between 2022 and 2024. Adjusted for inflation, it declined 3.1% between 2021 and 2022, and by 1.0% between 2022 and 2023. Overall, giving decreased slightly by 4.1% from 2021 to 2023. | HealthIn current dollars, giving increased by 10.4% from 2022 to 2023, and then by an additional 5.0% from 2023 to 2024. Overall, it grew by 15.9% between 2022 and 2024. Adjusted for inflation, giving decreased by 3.5% between 2021 and 2022, and increased by 4.4% between 2022 and 2023. Cumulatively, giving stayed relatively flat at 0.7% between 2021 and 2023. | Human ServicesGiving increased by 2.5% between 2022 and 2023 and by 5.0% between 2023 and 2024 in current dollars. Cumulatively, giving increased 7.6% between 2022 and 2024. Adjusted for inflation, it declined by 1.5% between 2021 and 2022, and increased by 1.7% between 2022 and 2023. Cumulatively, giving stayed relatively flat, growing by 0.2% in inflation-adjusted dollars between 2021 and 2023. | Public-Society BenefitGiving declined by 1.5% in current dollars from 2022 to 2023. It then increased by 19.5% from 2023 to 2024. Overall, giving grew by 17.8% in current dollars between 2022 and 2024. In inflation-adjusted dollars, giving declined by 15.3% between 2021 and 2022. Between 2022 and 2023, it increased by 7.2%. The overall change in giving from 2021 to 2023 is -9.1%. | FoundationsGiving remained flat at -0.1% in current dollars from 2022 to 2023. Between 2023 and 2024, current-dollar giving rose by 3.5%. The total change in giving from 2022 to 2024 is 3.4% in current dollars. Giving dropped 29.0% in inflation-adjusted dollars from 2021 to 2022. It then increased by 10.8% from 2022 to 2023. Overall, the total change in giving from 2021 to 2023 is a decrease of 21.3%. | International AffairsGiving increased by 1.6% in current dollars from 2022 to 2023. It then grew by 17.7% from 2023 to 2024. The total change between 2022 and 2024 is 19.6%. In inflation-adjusted dollars, giving declined by 27.6% from 2021 to 2022. It then fell again by 1.6% from 2022 to 2023. The total decline in giving between 2021 and 2023 is 28.8%. | Environment/AnimalsIn current dollars, giving increased by 1.2% from 2022 to 2023, and then rose again by 7.7% from 2023 to 2024. Overall, giving grew by 9.0% between 2022 and 2024. Adjusted for inflation, it remained nearly steady, increasing by 0.2% from 2021 to 2022, and then by 3.9% from 2022 to 2023. Overall, it grew by 4.1% from 2021 to 2023. | |
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Giving by Recipient 
Religious organizations received the largest share of charitable dollars in 2024, at 23% of total giving.Human services organizations received the second-largest portion of total gifts, at 14% of the total in 2024.The education subsector ranked third in total gifts received, at 14% of charitable dollars in 2024.Gifts to grantmaking foundations—including independent, community, and operating foundations—comprised the fourth-largest share of charitable dollars in 2024, amounting to 11% of total giving.The public-society benefit organizations subsector ranked fifth in total gifts received, at 11% of charitable dollars in 2024.Comprising the sixth-largest portion of charitable dollars in 2024, the health subsector received 10% of total giving.The international affairs subsector ranked seventh in total gifts received, amounting to 6% of charitable dollars in 2024.Arts, culture, and humanities organizations received the eighth-largest portion of charitable dollars in 2024, at 4% of total giving.Comprising the ninth-largest share of charitable dollars in 2024, the environment and animals subsector received 3% of total gifts.Additionally, gifts made directly to individuals amounted to 4% of total giving in 2024.
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