What Giving USA’s Latest Numbers Mean for Fundraisers

Here's a roundup of tools to help you pick the findings that matter most and put them to work.

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June 23, 2026 | Read Time: 1 minute

Giving USA’s newest report tells a fundraiser more than how much Americans gave in 2025. When read closely, the report is a planning document: It reveals which sources are growing, which causes are gaining ground, and where to dedicate your valuable time and attention.

Total giving reached a record-breaking $617.2 billion — up 5.7 percent in the past year, or 3 percent after inflation. Yet a 13 percent surge in the stock market over the same period shows that donors with investments could likely give more.

Beneath the headline, the sources of charitable giving are shifting. Individuals still give the largest share, but their portion has slipped to 64 percent, down from roughly 80 percent four decades ago. Foundations, corporations, and large bequests now make up more of the total.

“Whether you’re looking at the S&P 500 or the financial markets, they saw really, really robust growth,” says Jon Bergdoll, interim director of data and research partnerships at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, which conducts the research for Giving USA. “That has a pretty direct contribution to wealth and asset sizes of companies, foundations, the wealthy, and helped drive a lot of that increase.”

Here’s a roundup of tools to help you act on the year’s biggest findings — how to cultivate major donors, build a planned-giving pipeline, and make the case to corporate partners.

Editor’s note: Chronicle playbooks are updated on an ongoing basis as new advice becomes available.

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