The Giving Environment: Understanding Pre-Pandemic Trends in Charitable Giving

Abstract

Charitable giving reached an all-time high in 2020 with Americans donating $471 billion. This includes an adjustment of over $4 billion for COVID-19 relief and racial justice giving on top of what would normally be expected for those types of causes in 2020. However, in order to better understand these trends, we need to better understand the landscape of philanthropy before the onset of the pandemic and the increased awareness of social and racial justice issues.