PHILANTHROPY

Which Americans Donate the Most Money to Charity

It may not be who you think

How many dollars do you contribute each year to charity? Not “in-kind” giving — I’m not talking about that pile of used clothing and stack of worn out paperback books you hauled down to Goodwill.

Nor the grocery sack of food you were wheedled into donating to your company’s annual Thanksgiving Charity Round-Up.

I’m talking about cold hard cash. The donation made on your credit card or the check that required your John Henry on the bottom line.

To examine this question let’s look at some demographics — your age, your religious preference if you have one, your annual income, and what region of the US you live in.

Giving statistics according to major age groups

Millennials — Comprise 25.9% of US population, and give an average of $481 to charity each year. 84% donate to nonprofits that focus on:

• Children
• Health and medical organizations
• Local churches
• Human rights groups

GenExers—Make up 20.4% of US population, and give around $732, with 59% of them becoming regular donors. Giving preferences lean toward:

• Animal organizations
• Children’s charities
• Social services organizations
• Local churches

Baby Boomers — Comprise 20.5% of US population, and average $1,212 in annual giving. Preferred charities tend to be:

• Social services
• Animal organizations
• Children
• Human rights/international affairs
• Local churches

Silent Generation/Greatest Generation—These groups make up around 11.8% of the population. They’re the biggest donors in terms of contributions, giving around $1,367 of their income. 88% are reliable, annual donors. Their charitable preferences are:

• Veterans’ organizations
• Local social services
• Emergency and disaster relief fundraising efforts
• Local churches

Givers according to religious affiliations

According to several studies, people of the Jewish faith are the biggest givers of all religious groups — donating an average of $2,526 annually. Additionally, at least one study reports that Muslims donate an average of $3,200 a year.

According to Christianity Today, Protestant giving averaged around $1,749 annually, followed by Catholics at $1,142 — each donating about 2.5% of their income.

Both Jewish and Muslim givers tend to donate to social organizations and human rights groups, while Christian donations varied by denomination. However, around 32% of charitable donations by Christian groups went to their local church or a faith-based charity.

According to Nonprofit Source, just 5% of any religious affiliation donate regularly. And, households earning more than $75,000 are the least charitable.

Another study conducted by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson at the University of Notre Dame stated in their book, The Paradox of Generosity, that only 2.7% of people, religious or not — tithe the once traditional 10% of their income.

Givers according to income

A surprising statistic from Philanthropy Today revealed that individuals earning less than $50,000 annually are the second-highest givers in terms of percentage of income.

Those earning between $100,000 and $500,000 are the least giving in relation to total income.

It also reported that although higher-income earners contributed larger donations, lower-income earners donated a greater proportion to charity.

In other words, those who brought home $20,000 or less gave 1.2% of their income while those earning $20,000–$30,000 gave only 0.85%.

The highest earners they studied contributed only around 0.6% of their annual income.

Givers according to region

According to U.S. News & World Report and studies conducted by WalletHub, Utah, Minnesota and Maryland rank highest in the nation for charitable donations. Pennsylvania, Virginia, Minnesota and Ohio also made it into the top ten list.

WalletHub’s methodology compared all 50 states across the of areas of volunteerism and charitable giving. They examined 19 metrics where each was evaluated on a 100-point scale — 100 being the “most charitable.”

Smart Assets conducted its own survey last year in search of the most charitable areas in the US. It compared 51 of the largest metro areas by population and each of the 50 states across metrics that included charitable contributions as a percentage of income including IRS data.

It also combined metrics such as volunteerism with data extracted from NationalService.gov.

In this study Utah was identified as the most charitable state in the US with Salt Lake City ranking number one as the most philanthropic metro area in the nation.

This is likely due to being the home of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints — the largest community of Mormons in North America. It’s reported this religious denomination stresses tithing more than most other religions.

Also ranked by Smart Assets as “most charitable regions” were Oregon, Washington, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Maryland, Washington D.C. and Virginia.

Contributions from America’s mega-donors

According to the Robb Report, the country’s 25 most generous philanthropists gave $27 billion to charities in 2022.

This was more than 2021 and 2020 combined, according to Forbes, which also estimated these same donors have collectively given $196 billion to date.

The top five of these 25 mega-givers are:

#1-Warren Buffett: Fondly called “the Oracle of Omaha,” Buffet is CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He gave $5.4 billion to charities in 2022 and has donated $51.5 billion to date.

Buffett’s net worth is an estimated $115.6 billion and his giving focuses on health and world poverty. He has pledged to part with more than 99% of his wealth and is currently believed to be the most generous philanthropist of all time.

#2 Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates: The co-founder of Microsoft and his former wife continue to partner in the world’s largest private charitable foundation. Their net worth respectively is $133.3 billion and $6.1 billion.

So far, they’ve donated around $38.4 billion to charities in their lifetimes and like Buffett, their focus is healthcare and poverty.

#3 George Soros: Soros’s hedge fund companies have built him a net worth at around $8.6 billion. His areas of giving include healthcare, education, journalism, human rights, and justice reform.

His lifetime of philanthropy equals around $18.1 billion. Soros is one of the three top givers who’ve already met their Giving Pledge to donate at least half their wealth either within their lifetime or after their death.

#4 Michael Bloomberg: The former New York City mayor and co-founder of Bloomberg LP has given more than $12.7 billion in his lifetime to non-profits devoted to gun safety, climate change, and public health.

His net worth is an estimated $70 billion, and last year his donations topped $1.6 billion. Following the death of George Floyd, Bloomberg committed $100 million in funding to four Black medical institutions.

And last, but not least of this top five, is a Medium writer.

#5 MacKenzie Scott: The former wife of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos inherited a fortune following her divorce from the billionaire. To date, she has donated over $8.6 billion to over 700 groups focusing on public health, racial justice, and gender equality. Her net worth is around $53.5 billion.

Scott is an occasional Medium blogger who chronicles her philanthropic journey.

Final takeaways

While it’s easy to regard philanthropy in terms of the mega wealthy or huge corporate donors, according to Philanthropy Magazine, only 15% of donations come from foundation grants, and just 5% from corporations.

The rest — 80%— come from individuals, like you and me.

In an ideal world there wouldn’t be a need for charities. Diseases would be cured, no child or animal would experience hunger or abuse, and everyone would receive equal opportunities in life.

Since that’s not the case philanthropies exist to fill the gaps our society cannot.

It’s good to regard the power of individual donations, no matter how large or small. Cumulatively and collectively, they matter.

Margaret Mead’s famous quote said it best: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Information for this article was gleaned from The Philanthropy Roundtable, Philanthropy Today, U.S. News & World Report, WalletHub, Forbes Magazine and other charitable giving resources.