Good News for Giving: Record High Numbers in Giving USA’s 2015 Report

Today, the Giving USA Foundation released Giving USA 2015, its 60th annual report on giving. The foundation is a public service initiative of The Giving Institute. It serves as the nation’s leading source for charitable statistics and prides itself on advancing the research, education, and public understanding of philanthropy.  This year’s edition of Giving USA reports that American philanthropy is growing stronger and reaching new highs. In 2014, Americans surpassed the peak–last seen before the Great Recession–giving an estimated $358.38 billion to charity, a 5.4 percent increase from the prior year. 

Aside from this landmark increase in giving, the report also found that:

-2014 marked the fifth year in a row that giving increased
-All four sources that comprise total giving increased over the past year – individuals by 4%, foundations by 6.5%, bequests by 13.6%, and corporations by 11.9%
-Giving to arts and culture as well as environment focused organizations saw the fastest growth and neither has seen a decline since the end of the recession
-Giving to international organizations has declined for the third year
-Giving to the public-society benefit sector increased more than 3% over the prior year to $26.29 billion. This sector is where donor-advised funds are counted and these findings reflect those of NPT’s Donor-Advised Fund Report.

The Giving USA 2015 report is good news for charities and philanthropists alike. Giving has matched pre-recession levels across various metrics and is forecasted to continue its rise. Charities should continue making the case for support–something they're doing successfully, as indicated by the increases in giving to all types of charities. Donors can take advantage of growth in giving by thinking strategically about their philanthropic efforts. 

To learn more about charitable giving in America, you can download a copy of Giving USA 2014 from their website.