Fewer Rich Donors Gave Last Year, While Young Donors Gained Ground

While giving by wealthy and everyday donors has been on a downward trajectory for years, 81 percent of affluent Americans gave to charity last year, according to a new study. That’s a significant percentage of rich people, but it’s still a decrease from 2022, when 85 percent of rich Americans gave, and a 10 percent drop from 2015, when 91 percent of the affluent donated to charity.

On the plus side, volunteering is starting to make a comeback. The report found that volunteering by the wealthy rose from 30 percent in 2020 to 43 percent in 2024. That is good news for major gift officers because those who volunteer give double, on average, than donors who do not volunteer, according to the study.

“Volunteering is the gateway to philanthropy,” said William Jarvis, managing director and philanthropic executive at Bank of American Private Bank, which produced the study of giving by affluent U.S. households, in partnership with Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

“They might or might not know the organization very well, but they go in there, they do the [volunteer work], and they say, ‘Wow, this is really aligned with my values, I’m really interested in this,’ and that enables them to pull out their credit card or write a check.”

A rise in volunteering can help up to a point. The real challenge for nonprofits is that the steady decline in giving by the wealthy means grant seekers must rely on an ever-shrinking pool of philanthropists who can give large sums.

The 2025 Bank of America Study of Philanthropy finds that the giving landscape gains greater nuance when donors are segmented by wealth level. The study is based on a national sample of 1,514 U.S. households with a net worth of at least $1 million, excluding their primary residence, and/or an annual income of $200,000 or more. Respondents reported a median net worth of $2 million and a median annual income of $350,000.

The pandemic and other economic challenges over the past nine years have affected giving from rich households of all wealth levels, the report finds, but especially those at the lower end of the wealth range — those whose fortune is around $1 million or less. For example, 73 percent of donors with wealth of less than $1 million made charitable contributions in 2024, 7 percentage points below the rate for affluent households over all, according to the study.

On the other hand, giving by donors with $5 million or more has remained resilient, with 87 percent reporting that they made a charitable contribution in 2024. The study found that, on average, giving by households with $5 million or more is nearly three times larger than the average giving for households with less than $1 million in wealth.

The differences between giving between the two groups is primarily related to the donors’ stage of life, say experts. A small percentage of the richest donors in the study inherited their wealth, but most in the $5 million and above range have already spent decades building fortunes, often through a business they founded, grew, and then sold, said Jarvis.

Affluent donors on the lower end in the study tend to be younger and focused on building their business, worrying about things like making payroll and taking care of their family, he said.

“If people are busy building their wealth, they may not have the time to sit down and figure out what causes they want to support and how much they can afford to give,” said Jarvis. “This would be the role of the adviser, and this philanthropic conversation is something that we know from other studies over time clients want.”

Importance of Everyday Donors

Even so, nonprofits shouldn’t ignore the younger, less wealthy group of affluent donors, said Amir Pasic, dean of Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Obviously, Pasic said, major gift fundraisers should focus on stewarding relationships with the wealthiest of wealthy donors, but they shouldn’t forget that fundraising is a long-term game.

“If nonprofits are not soliciting and cultivating the pipeline of donors who are giving less, then they’re abandoning the future by just focusing on where the money is right now,” he said. “The pool of donors is shrinking, but we don’t want to contribute to the further shrinkage of that pool by neglecting the people who may be taking a pause rather than giving up on the process altogether.”

Among the report’s other findings:

• Big donors are giving locally. On average, rich donors said they gave to five organizations last year, with 79 percent of them supporting their local communities.
• A small group of donors in the study — 4 percent — consider themselves philanthropic experts, but these donors give much more than other rich philanthropists. On average, those who identify as expert donors give six times more than those who identify as giving novices.
• The use of giving vehicles like donor-advised funds, foundations, charitable trusts, charitable distributions through retirement accounts, and other vehicles are on the rise among wealthy donors. In 2024, 18 percent of gifts were made through a giving vehicle, up from 11 percent nine years earlier. Ten percent were made through a donor-advised fund.
• Nearly one-quarter of affluent households have a giving vehicle, and almost half of those with a net worth of $5 million to $20 million have or plan to establish one within the next three years.
• Younger donors are gaining ground. Generation X and millennials and younger together account for nearly two-thirds of wealthy Americans in the study. Baby boomers account for one-third, and only 5 percent are older than that.
• Older donors tend give to specific organizations while younger donors give to issues of importance to them. This flip means issue-based philanthropy is here to stay, said Jarvis, so nonprofits must change how they attract these younger affluent donors.

“It really doesn’t matter if you have a very strong established brand. You have to turn that inside out and lead with what you do and why what you do is important and then attach your brand to that,” Jarvis said. “You’re having to reintroduce yourself to this next-gen donor, and it has to be done in terms of the impact their gift would make and how that aligns with the organization’s mission and with the interests of the donor.”