Will the Pandemic Affect Giving for the Remainder of 2020?

Before the economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic, charitable giving in the US reached a total of nearly $450 billion in 2019—one of the highest years on record, according to findings from Giving USA 2020: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2019.

For the third consecutive year, giving to religious organizations “comprised 29 percent of all donations received by charities in 2019,” states the 2020 report.

Religious giving reached its fourth highest inflation-adjusted amount in the 65 years Giving USA has produced its annual report—totaling slightly over $128 billion in 2019. Even so, giving to religion has remained relatively flat when adjusted for inflation when compared to 2018. This contrasts with significant increases in giving to education; human services; public-society benefit organizations (e.g., Pew Charitable Trusts, United Way, Schwab Charitable ...