Highlights from the Giving USA Foundation 2022 Report

The Giving USA Report published by Giving USA Foundation, whose mission is advancing the research, education and public understanding of philanthropy, and researched and written by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI, was released last week. 

The report is jam-packed with valuable insights, and understanding data and trends in philanthropy is valuable for nonprofit founders and executives, foundation boards, and other key decision makers to help plan strategies for their organizations and identify opportunities in giving.

This year, the Giving USA report features a new chapter on understanding giving patterns of donor-advised funds and their donors. 

While we love diving into an in-depth report at Resilia, we know that time is of the essence for busy nonprofit teams! So, we’ve summarized the highlights of the report for you.

Overall Highlights

Charitable giving in 2021 continued to reflect the events of 2020 including the pandemic, economic crisis, monumental racial justice efforts, and an exceptional philanthropic response. Though growth in giving did not keep pace with inflation, which caused many challenges for nonprofits. 

The report shows that individuals, bequests, foundations, and corporations gave an estimated $484.85 billion to U.S. charities in 2021. Total charitable giving in 2021 grew 4.0% over the revised total of $466.23 billion contributed in 2020. However, while giving increased in current dollars, it remained flat (-0.7%) after adjusting for inflation, according to the report.

The largest gifts by some of the wealthiest Americans reached a total of nearly $15 billion in 2021. These types of ‘megagifts’ (defined in Giving USA 2022 as gifts of $450 million or more) represent about 5% of all individual giving in 2021.

Below are some of the highlights for 2021 Charitable Giving by Source, as cited by the report. All of the rates are adjusted for inflation: 

1. Giving by individuals totaled an estimated $326.87 billion, rising 4.9% (staying flat at 0.2%, adjusted for inflation).

2. Giving by foundations grew 3.4%, to an estimated $90.88 billion (-1.2%, adjusted for inflation). Giving by foundations, which has grown in 10 of the last 11 years, represented 19% of total giving in 2021, its largest share on record. 

3. Giving by bequest totaled an estimated $46.01 billion, a decline of 7.3% (-11.4%, adjusted for inflation). Bequests are known to be volatile from year to year, and it is likely that several large bequests in 2020 resulted in a comparative decline in 2021. 

4. Giving by corporations is estimated to have increased by 23.8%, totaling $21.08 billion (18.3%, adjusted for inflation). Corporate giving includes cash and in-kind contributions made through corporate giving programs, as well as grants and gifts made by corporate foundations. 

Highlights and Numbers for 2021 Charitable Giving to Recipients:

• Religion grew by 5.4% with an estimated $135.78 billion in contributions.

• Education is estimated to have declined 2.8% to $70.79 billion. Education giving includes contributions to K-12 schools, higher education and libraries.

• Human services increased by an estimated 2.2% totaling $65.33 billion.

• Foundation giving is estimated to have increased by 9.3%, to $64.26 billion.

• Giving to public-society benefit organizations increased an estimated 23.5% to $55.85 billion. This category includes a wide range of charitable organizations, including national donor-advised funds, United Ways and civil rights organizations.

• Health is estimated to have grown by 7.7% to $40.58 billion.

• Arts, culture, and humanities is estimated to have increased 27.5% to $23.50 billion.

• International affairs is estimated to be $27.44 billion, remaining flat at 0.0% growth. 

• Giving to environmental and animal organizations is estimated to have increased 11.0% to $16.32 billion. Donations to the environment/animals subsector increased 6.1%.

• Giving to individuals is estimated to have grown 1.8%, to $11.74 billion. The majority of these donations are in-kind gifts of medications to patients in need, made through the patient assistance programs of pharmaceutical companies’ operating foundations.

• Unallocated giving was negative $26.75 billion in 2021. This amount can be considered the difference between giving by source and use in a particular year. 

For a look at highlights and numbers for 2021 Charitable Giving to Recipients, you can read IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy’s highlights, or to download the full Giving USA 2022 report, visit Giving USA Foundation (Note that an annual subscription is required to access the full report).