Key takeaways from Giving USA on 2025 philanthropy trends

Total charitable giving in the United States totaled $617.2 billion in 2025, according to Giving USA Foundation’s 2026 Annual Report on Philanthropy. The estimates were developed by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy using multiple data sources, including Candid.

Findings about giving in 2025 and long-term philanthropy trends include:

1. Philanthropy trends by giving source: Robust growth for the second straight year

In 2025, total giving grew 5.7% (3% adjusted for inflation) from the previous year, following a 6.3% (3.3%) increase in 2024. After increasing just 1.9%—actually a 2.1% decline when adjusted for inflation—in 2023, overall giving continued to show robust growth.

• Giving by individuals totaled an estimated $394.2 billion, up 4.1% from 2024 in current dollars. This accounted for 64% of total giving last year.
• Giving by foundations grew 5.7% to $117.15 billion, or 19% of total giving.
• Giving by corporations ticked up 3.1% to $43.67 billion, or 7% of the total.
• Giving by bequest reached $62.19 billion, or 10% of the total. The amount jumped 19.7% after dropping significantly in 2024; bequests fluctuate significantly from year to year.

Looking at cumulative trends in 2024 and 2025, giving by individuals grew 13.4% over the two-year period, outpacing giving by foundations (9.4%), corporations (7.3%), and bequests (-13.3%).

2. Philanthropy trends by subsector: Nearly all issue areas saw increased giving

The issue areas that received the most dollars were largely unchanged from 2024. Religious organizations received the largest share of total giving (23%), followed by human services (15%), education (14%), foundations (12%), and public-society benefit (11%).

Giving to education and public-society benefit also saw the largest year-over-year increases in 2025. While environmental and animal welfare organizations and arts and culture groups each received just 4% of the total last year, these smaller subsectors saw strong cumulative growth in 2024 and 2025.

The only area that did not see an increase in 2025 was giving to grantmaking foundations, which fell 16.2%, but this came on the heels of a 36.5% surge in 2024.

3. Mega-gifts surged in 2025

One of the philanthropy trends to emerge in recent years is the surge in “mega-gifts,” defined as gifts from individuals that exceed 0.1% of the year’s total giving. In 2025, that meant gifts of at least $600 million. Mega-gifts totaled $19.22 billion last year, a significant increase from $11.72 billion in 2024.

Mega-gifts reported in 2025 included $6.65 billion from MacKenzie Scott to numerous nonprofits across issue areas, as well as gifts from Michael Bloomberg ($4.3 billion), Bill Gates ($3.7 billion), and Warren Buffett ($1.34 billion) to their affiliated foundations.

4. The share of giving by individuals continued to decline

At the same time, giving by individuals overall as a share of total giving continued to decline in 2025. The share of giving by individuals has fallen from 67% in 2023 to 66% in 2024 to 64% last year.

In fact, philanthropy trends data collected over the last 40 years shows that five-year averages have been falling steadily since the 1980s. In 1986-1990, giving by individuals made up 80% of total giving; that percentage fell to 77% in 1996-2000 and to 70% in 2016-2020.

By contrast, foundation giving has grown substantially as a percentage of total giving, from 7% in 1986-1990 to 18% in the last five years.

5. Individual giving as a share of disposable income is back to 1995 levels

Individual giving as a percentage of disposable personal income fell to 1.7% in 2023, the lowest level since 1995—and has more or less remained unchanged over the last two years. For context, in 2025, disposable personal income itself increased by 4.4% in current dollars, while giving by individuals grew 4.1%.

Jon Bergdoll, interim director of data and research partnerships at the Lilly Family School noted that low consumer sentiment in 2025 may have dampened household giving.

In terms of long-term philanthropy trends over the last 40 years, individual giving as a percentage of disposable personal income peaked at 2.4% in 2000 and again in 2005.

This article is part of a regular feature where Candid insights shares key takeaways from a new research report to encourage a more data-driven approach to the sector’s work. Please email insights@candid.org to recommend a report for an upcoming feature. 

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