With Christmas and Hanukkah right around the corner, shoppers across the United States are filling their carts – both physical and digital – with gifts for their friends and family. While the holiday season can bring us closer to our loved ones, it’s also the time of year Americans are most likely to give to strangers as well.
Sixty-two percent of Americans planned to make charitable donations in November and December 2024, according to a recent report from the grantmaking organization CAF America. For 21% of those donors, the holiday season marks the only time of year when they plan to give to charity.
This trend towards end-of-year donations is especially true for younger people – the average donor under the age of 30 reported plans to make half of their annual contributions to charity in November and December. Among the reasons people cited for giving more during the holiday season were tradition, social obligation, and the ease of donating at this time of year.
Despite the anticipated boon that end-of-year giving brings to charities, some experts are concerned that the US is in the midst of a crisis of generosity. In 2023, there was a 2.1% decline in charitable giving, according to the philanthropy research foundation Giving USA.
Even more dramatically, Vox reported that 20 million fewer households donated to charity in 2016 compared to 2000. Experts cite several reasons for this decrease, including declining participation in organized religion, increased anger over failures to address inequality, and a lack of disposable income among Gen Z and Millennials.
“Younger donors simply don’t have money right now,” Rasheeda Childress, a senior editor at the Chronicle of Philanthropy, told Vox.
One demographic that continues to give to nonprofits, however, is the ultra-wealthy. This is particularly the case because wealthy individuals receive disproportionate benefits from the charitable tax deduction system. Experts caution, however, that relying on donations from the one percent can be a double-edged sword.
“It’s almost becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Childress told Vox. “[Nonprofits are] going after where the money is right now, but they’re not growing where the money is going to be.”
In March, the Chronicle of Philanthropy announced its list of the individuals and couples who were the most philanthropic in 2023. Continue reading to learn who gave the most to charity last year, according to their roundup.
