Total charitable giving grew 4 percent on a year-over-year basis in 2021, though it remained flat (-0.7 percent), after being adjusted for inflation, a report from Giving USA finds.

Produced by the Giving USA Foundation and the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, the report, Giving USA 2022: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2021, estimates that charitable giving totaled $484.85 billion in 2021, up from the revised total in 2020 of $466.23 billion. According to the report, giving by individuals totaled an estimated $326.87 billion, up 4.9 percent (0.2 percent, adjusted for inflation); giving by foundations grew 3.4 percent (-1.2 percent), totaling an estimated $90.88 billion; and giving by corporations grew by 23.8 percent (18.3 percent), totaling an estimated $21.08 billion. Looking closer at individual giving, bequests totaled an estimated $46.01 billion, a decline of 7.3 percent (-11.4 percent). Very large gifts by some of the wealthiest Americans reached a total of nearly $15 billion. These types of mega gifts (defined in Giving USA 2022 as gifts of $450 million or more) represent about 5 percent of all individual giving in 2021 and played an important role in lifting individual giving.

In terms of issue area, giving to arts, culture, and humanities showed the largest increase, growing 27.5 percent (21.8 percent, adjusted for inflation); followed by public-society benefit organizations, growing 23.5 percent (17.9 percent); environmental and animal organizations, up 11.0 percent (6.1 percent); gifts to foundations, up 9.3 percent (4.4 percent); health, up 7.7 percent (2.9 percent); religion, up 5.4 percent (flat at 0.7 percent); and human services, up 2.2 percent (-2.4 percent). Conversely, giving in support of international affairs was flat in current dollars, at 0 percent growth (-4.5 percent, adjusted for inflation), and giving to education is estimated to have declined 2.8 percent (-7.2 percent).

“In 2021, the U.S. had a strong year economically and also experienced inflationary pressures not seen in several decades. While the stock market performed well in 2021, there were some economic factors that may have affected nonprofits’ operations, such as labor shortages, supply chain interruptions, and ongoing high demand for services,” said Una Osili, associate dean for research and international programs at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. “The growth that we see for the majority of the subsectors in 2021 is a reminder of the resilience and innovation that help to drive the philanthropic sector.”

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