After a year plagued with devastation and hardship, it fosters hope to know that charitable contributions did not falter. In this year’s Giving USA Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2020, it was reported that total donations to U.S. charities reached an estimated $471.44 billion in 2020. This summary includes contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations. The grand sum of charitable donations increased by 5.1% from 2019.

“Unprecedented developments in 2020, including the global pandemic, the ensuing economic crisis, and efforts to advance racial justice created intense, widespread need and significantly increased the demand upon nonprofit organizations. Remarkably, generous giving coupled with the stock market turnaround in the final months of the year boosted contributions. As a result, 2020 is the highest year of charitable giving on record,” explained Laura MacDonald, CFRE, chair of Giving USA Foundation and Principal and Founder of Benefactor Group. “Amid these unique circumstances, however, the nation’s overall economic picture remained mixed. It is important to recognize that the picture for individual households and organizations may have looked quite different, with many facing hardship even though total giving posted strong growth.”

“In some ways, 2020 is a story of uneven impact and uneven recovery. Many wealthier households were more insulated from the effects of COVID-19 and the ensuing economic shock, and they may have had greater capacity to give charitably than households and communities that were disproportionately affected and struggled financially,” Amir Pasic, Ph.D., the Eugene R. Tempel Dean of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy reported. “Similarly, growth in the S&P 500 in recent years and the market recovery in 2020 positioned foundations to respond to the year’s challenges, with the result that giving by foundations reached its largest-ever share of total giving, at 19 percent. Still, for many people and communities, the need remained great throughout the year and beyond.”

2020 was incredibly difficult for many, especially in the financial realm. For instance, GDP decreased two percent from 2019. However, the approval of the CARES Act and the reports of a potential COVID-19 vaccine contributed to the market’s rebound in the latter half of the troubling year since that is when the most charitable giving occurred. As 2020 reached a close, the S&P 500, associated with giving, grew 16.3%, and personal income, also related to individual giving, rose six percent. Donations from foundations saw a significant increase along with giving by individuals due to the circumstances of many, which inspired empathy and giving back.

Charitable donations increased from three of the four types of giving and seven of the nine significant sources of philanthropic organizations in 2020.

“As we have seen in earlier years that included national crises or economic recessions, donors responded to urgent needs, and large-scale gifts as well as giving to COVID-19 relief and the racial justice movement helped drive the growth in individual and total charitable giving in 2020,” stated Una Osili, Ph.D., associate dean for research and international programs at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. “Nonprofit leaders and fundraising professionals played a role with significant innovation in fundraising methods and donor outreach in order to raise greater financial support under difficult circumstances. In addition, we saw a wide range of more informal philanthropic responses by individuals in 2020, including mutual aid efforts and person-to-person giving.”

The Giving Institute is the head organization of the Giving USA Foundation. The inspirational parent organization comprises several organizations representing central ethics, values, and leadership in boosting philanthropic efforts. Ranging from national to international, The Giving Institute helps members of every various cause and size reach their goals while maintaining the highest caliber of ethics.

Advancing this Foundation, Giving USA Foundation was created in 1985 by The Giving Institute to educate the public on philanthropic organizations. From the Chicago headquarters, the education-driven Foundation’s objective was to publish data reports about charitable contributions through its supplementary publication, Giving USA. Since they started publishing content in 1956, Giving USA has the most thorough information on philanthropy data in America.

For the past 65 years, Giving USA’s Annual Report on Philanthropy in America includes a complete data summary from fundraisers, donors, and nonprofit leaders. This annual report is researched and composed by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI.