Keeping up-to-date with how the giving landscape is shifting in the US is critical for change-makers, nonprofits, and researchers across the social sector. That’s why we’re excited to launch the second edition of our GivingPulse report, covering full-year and Q4 trends from 2023.
The full report is available at givingpulse.givingtuesday.org.
Supported by the Fidelity CharitableⓇ Catalyst Fund, our latest GivingPulse report captures annual data we collected throughout 2023, as well as data and trends we observed in the critical end-of-year giving season.
Through an analysis of behaviors, beliefs, and demographics of over 5,000 givers across the US, we’ve discovered that:
- Americans who give aren’t just generous with their money: respondents who say they gave recently were most likely to report that they donated items, volunteered their time, and provided funds to the causes they care about.
- While Americans are most likely to donate to registered charities, there is also strong support for a wide variety of formal and informal causes. Nearly 40% of respondents reported giving to all recipient types: charities, informal groups, and individuals.
- Over 70% of Americans who reported not being solicited to give recently feel that generosity and giving are important to them, indicating a large and relatively untapped generosity market.
- Political identities do not correlate with levels of generosity. Attitudes about generosity tend to be separate from political beliefs.
More key takeaways can be found in the Executive Summary section of the GivingPulse report.
GivingPulse captures dimensions of generosity that expand beyond financial giving including volunteering, informal support (such as mutual aid societies), and item donations. The GivingTuesday Data Commons team combines these behaviors with demographic and attitudinal traits to present a complete picture of what people give (time, treasure, talent, or influence), who they are giving to (nonprofits, informal organizations, or others), and what motivates them to get—and remain—involved.
“Access to timely, evidence-based data is more critical than ever for organizations across the nonprofit sector,” said Tony Bowen, Executive Director of the Fidelity Charitable® Catalyst Fund. “GivingPulse delivers a regular snapshot of the current state of giving in the United States, and we were eager to support this new approach to understanding philanthropic trends. By measuring all types of giving, to many types of organizations and groups, GivingPulse provides much-needed perspective on how people feel about giving and where new opportunities and challenges are appearing.”
By enabling the social sector to follow shifts in American attitudes and behaviors around generosity, GivingPulse helps build a greater understanding of giving across the US that can be leveraged to develop new tools and programs that resonate with diverse audiences.
“By representing all types of giving, GivingPulse uniquely captures the full scope of generosity across the US. Americans remain generous and they want to give, in whatever way they can. As our report shows, there are real opportunities for nonprofits to tap into that generosity through more targeted and frequent outreach and by encouraging givers to discuss causes they care about with their communities.”
– Woodrow Rosenbaum, Chief Data Officer of GivingTuesday
Future GivingPulse reports will be released quarterly through the givingpulse.givingtuesday.org site and further data visualization and analysis of GivingPulse data is available to researchers through the GivingTuesday Data Commons platform. To find out how to access GivingPulse data, please visit https://www.givingtuesday.org/data-commons/givingpulse/.
