Fears of a “generosity crisis” have dogged nonprofit fundraisers for much of this century as they experienced precipitous drops in U.S. household donations. The results of a new poll suggest most Americans gave at least a little to some charities in the past year but offer mixed signals for those hoping to improve giving trends.
The survey, released Tuesday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that about three-quarters of U.S. adults say their household contributed money to a charitable organization. But about one-quarter of respondents said their household had donated $0 to charitable organizations. Most Americans who donated said they gave $500 or less, far below “major gift” territory for even the smallest nonprofits.
The suggestion that many Americans gave anything, even if the totals were low, could be considered a promising sign looking ahead for a sector whipsawed by federal aid cuts and major funders’ relatively muted response. After all, the past year saw pocketbooks squeezed by the rising cost of living and everyday donor attention split by the persistent small-dollar fundraising appeals of a high-stakes presidential election.
But adults under age 45 were also more likely to say they donated no money in the last year — regardless of their level of income — raising the possibility that some younger generations may be less inclined to give to charity generally.
Americans were likeliest to donate to religious organizations
U.S. adults were likeliest to say they donated to religious organizations or groups that help with bare necessities in the past year.
About 4 in 10 U.S. adults say they’ve donated to an organization that helps people in the U.S. who need food, shelter or other basic needs. A similar share say they’ve donated to a religious institution such as a church, mosque or synagogue.
Some people say they trust their church best to use their money as intended. Florida resident Daniel Valdes said he donates whenever he has enough funds because “it’s just goodwill to help the disadvantaged.” He reported giving between $101 and $500 over the past year — including tithes while attending services at a local Catholic church.
“So, I feel I know where my contributions go,” said Valdes, 50. “They don’t go to a big corporation. I know they’re held locally and within the community.”
About 3 in 10 say they have donated to disaster relief organizations, and about one-quarter donated to animal care groups. Bethany Berry, 37, said donating became more important to her after she lost pets in the 2018 Camp Fire, which destroyed most of the homes in Paradise, California.
Berry reported donating between $51 and $100 over the past year. Some goes to pet rescue organizations. The rest goes to small-dollar requests in a mutual aid group on Facebook where she said members can ask for “anything, wants or needs.”
People like her who have experienced disasters understand how easy it is to “be in that position,” she said, and don’t want to watch others suffer.
“I’m not sure you can ever put enough back into the universe to compensate,” Berry said. “So, all you can do is try.”
Younger Americans were less likely to give — even those with higher incomes
Generational differences also emerged throughout the poll.
Younger adults were more likely than older adults to say they didn’t donate any money. About 3 in 10 adults under age 45 said they donated $0 over the past year, compared with about 2 in 10 adults age 45 or older.
That gap extended to other charitable behavior. About 8 in 10 adults age 60 or older said they donated food, clothing or household items in the past year, compared with about 6 in 10 adults under age 30.
The persistence of those differences as younger adults come into more money — either by making the difficult climb up the income ladder or through wealth transfers from Baby Boomers to their heirs — would spell trouble for nonprofits hoping to tap into the next generations’ bank accounts.
Household finances were likely playing at least a partial role. Low-income adults were more likely than higher-income adults to say they didn’t donate, and older adults are more likely to have the highest household incomes overall.
But there were hints that younger generations think differently about their personal obligation to give. Adults under age 45 were more likely than older adults to say that “people like them” have only a little responsibility or no responsibility at all to help people in the U.S. who are in need.
And even in higher-income brackets, younger adults were more likely to report donating no money, compared with older adults. That suggests younger adults may be less likely to make charitable gifts, regardless of their financial situation.
Georgia retiree Regina Evans, 68, said she’s just “an old lady that’s lived life” and learned that “what you give comes back to you.” She falls in the roughly 1 in 10 U.S. adults who reported donating more than $5,000.
Still, she said, she couldn’t give as much as she wanted because Hurricane Helene knocked two pine trees onto the house where she and her husband have lived for more than a decade.
Evans gives to her faith community — Augusta’s Tabernacle Baptist Church — and a local homeless shelter, like many respondents. Her household stepped up its contributions to Golden Harvest Food Bank when she said inflation left the pantry low on funds. Outside of monetary donations, she’s part of a network that provides secondhand professional attire and winter coats for young women and children.
Donations of food and clothing are also common, according to the poll, although volunteering is less widespread. The survey found that about 7 in 10 U.S. adults said they donated food, clothing or household items in the past year, while about 3 in 10 volunteered their time to a religious or secular charitable organization.
Evans said she keeps giving even when it “hurts” because she has relied on others for food and shelter during hardships, such as last fall’s storm, which still has her living in an apartment.
Such charitable behavior is “normal” to Evans — and she believes there are more likeminded people who are “generous of spirit.”
“It’s like a requirement for me. If you live in this place, you live in this world, you should give if you expect to receive,” Evans said. “It never comes back in the way that you expect, and it doesn’t come back dollar for dollar. But I can say with complete surety that every dollar that I’ve ever donated came back to me in a way that I could not count.”
