The global philanthropic environment has slightly improved since 2018, but not uniformly so, a report from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI finds.

Based on data from 91 countries and economies from 2018 to 2020, the report, The Global Philanthropy Environment Index 2022, (72 pages, PDF) (GPEI), found that while 62 percent of the countries and economies studied had a favorable environment for philanthropy during that period, nearly half of country experts reported a slowdown in economic growth due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, one-third of the 79 countries and economies included in both the 2018 and 2022 editions of the GPEI experienced a decline in their political environment for philanthropy due to changes such as political instability, state harassment and negative campaigns (especially against human rights and watchdog organizations), and restrictions on foreign funding. Conversely, the report also found that the pandemic opened opportunities for innovative approaches to giving, driven in large part by a shift toward grassroots leadership and increased collaboration at the local level, as well as technological innovations that led to online giving.

According to the report, the overall philanthropic environment was moderately favorable at the global level (3.63 on a scale of 1 to 5) among the six factors identified to comprehensively measure philanthropy: the ease of operating a philanthropic organization, tax incentives on giving, cross-border philanthropic flows, and the political, economic, and socio-cultural environment for philanthropy, with the ease of operating a philanthropic organization (3.97) scoring the highest global average and the economic environment (3.46) scoring the lowest. Globally, the economic environment for philanthropy was especially variable, with particularly low scores in countries in the Caribbean and Latin America. In addition, Canada was the only G7 country to score below the global average for cross-border philanthropic outflows and the only G7 country to score below the global average on the ease of operating a philanthropic organization.

“Philanthropy is more visible today, but decision makers and policy makers often have a limited framework for understanding how philanthropy is shaping our response to global challenges,” said Una Osili, professor of economics and associate dean for research and international programs at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. “In order to support global philanthropy amid complex global crises, we need tools to help us understand where it’s thriving, where it isn’t, and why. GPEI provides us with this one-of-a-kind roadmap for making philanthropy more effective in our response to global challenges, but that ultimately requires that policymakers act on the insights and learnings GPEI provides.”

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