Charitable giving totaled $592.5 billion last year according to research conducted by the Lilly School of Philanthropy and published in Giving USA, The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2024. This is the first annual increase since 2021, when a record $643.8 billion was contributed, and represents a 3.3% increase over 2023 after inflation. Nearly three quarters of all giving was from individuals, including $392.5 billion in current giving and $45.8 in bequests, while giving from foundations was $109.8 billion and corporate giving totaled $44.4 billion.

Beyond the broad totals, the Giving USA report points to some interesting trends . . .

Americans gave a record $557 billion in charitable gifts during 2023, according to estimates provided by the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University in Giving USA 2024, The Annual Report on Philanthropy for 2023, published by the Giving USA Foundation. Giving, on an inflation-adjusted basis, continues to recover after retreating from the all-time peak in 2021. In current dollars, giving from all sources was up 1.9% over the previous year but down 2.1% when adjusted for inflation.

Giving by individuals was estimated to be $374 billion, growing at an annualized rate of 4.3% over the last five years. An additional $43 billion came from individuals in the form of charitable bequest giving, an increase of 4.8% over the previous year. Corporate giving was up 3% to $37 billion. Giving by foundations was estimated at $104 billion, an annualized rate of 8.3% over the last five years. (Note, the Giving USA Report counts new contributions to donor advised funds as individual giving in the year of the contribution. Subsequent distributions from donor advised funds are not reported as foundation giving.)