Washington, D.C. – Charitable Giving Coalition Chair Brian Flahaven issued the following statement regarding Giving USA’s annual report on charitable giving in 2023:
The Charitable Giving Coalition is concerned that, after a historic decline in 2022, charitable giving failed to keep up with inflation in 2023. Despite a relatively strong economic year, it is troubling to see a 2.1 percent decline in real, inflation-adjusted dollars given to charity.
This marks the second consecutive year Giving USA found that charitable giving has declined. In 2022, Giving USA reported the largest year-over-year decline since they began tracking giving in 1957.
Almost every economic indicator was stronger in 2023—U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 6.3 percent, the S&P 500 reached record highs, and the inflation rate fell significantly—yet charitable giving did not even keep pace with inflation.
Adding to our concerns, giving by individuals, which makes up two thirds of total giving, declined by 2.4 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars, the largest drop among Giving USA’s four categories of sources of giving. Coupled with the decades-long trend of fewer and fewer Americans giving to charity, this report reinforces growing concerns that lower- and middle-income individual donors are disappearing. These are the same everyday givers who have long provided the financial lifeblood to local soup kitchens, homeless and domestic abuse shelters, schools, cultural organizations, and religious congregations and ministries—among innumerable other crucial charities.
The Giving USA results closely track data from the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Fundraising Effectiveness Project. FEP found a 2.8 percent decline in total giving in 2023 compared to 2022, as well as a 3.4 percent decline in the number of donors.
Redressing these declines in giving will require multiple steps. However, one proven solution is to extend the charitable deduction to lower- and middle-income taxpayers who do not itemize, rather than limiting the deduction to the roughly 10 percent who currently do itemize.
The Charitable Giving Coalition hopes this new data will prompt more lawmakers to support the Charitable Act (H.R. 3435, S. 566). This widely supported bipartisan legislation would renew the charitable deduction for non-itemizers and accomplish a vital step toward valuing and encouraging giving from all generous Americans, not just the wealthiest. Passage of the Charitable Act will also give an important boost to the many thousands of American charitable organizations that faithfully serve our communities and those most in need.
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The Charitable Giving Coalition
Representing private and community foundations, their grantees and independent charities, the Charitable Giving Coalition’s members include United Way Worldwide, the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities USA, the American Council on Education, Jewish Federations of North America, the American Institute for Cancer Research, the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Independent Sector, the Council on Foundations, and United Philanthropy Forum, among others. Formed in 2009, the coalition is dedicated to preserving the charitable giving incentive that ensures that our nation’s charities receive the funds necessary to fulfill their essential philanthropic missions. The coalition provides a unique and unified voice on Capitol Hill on issues affecting the charitable deduction, a voice composed of both direct lobbying and robust grassroots advocacy. www.charitablegivingcoalition.org, @CGC_DC