The Pentera Blog
Giving USA: Americans Still Generous in 2021
Americans continued giving generously to charities in 2021, donating $484.85 billion to nonprofits, according to Giving USA 2022: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2021. Adjusted for inflation, their giving remained at roughly the same level as in 2020—which was a record year.
One significant change in 2021 was that donors returned to their favorite causes after focusing the year prior on charities linked to pandemic relief. Donations to arts and culture organizations, for example, rebounded a dramatic 21.8% compared with the previous year. Large gains were also experienced by public-society benefit organizations, which include charities such as civil rights organizations, donor-advised funds, and United Way chapters. These nonprofits saw their contributions increase nearly 18%, according to the report. Giving to animal and environmental causes were also higher in 2021, increasing more than 6%.
Other report highlights include:
- Giving by corporations rose dramatically to $21.08 billion, an increase of 18.3%.
- Giving by individuals reached $326.87 billion, up 0.2%.
- Foundations gave $90.88 billion, down 1.2%.
- Giving through bequests totaled $46.01 billion, a decline of 7.3%.
- Individual "megagifts" (those totallying at least $450 million from wealthy donors) reached $15 billion, accounting for nearly 5% of all individual giving.
Giving USA 2021 is a publication of the Giving USA Foundation. It is researched and written by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
