Although donors continued to give to charity in the years leading up to and after the Great Recession, the charitable giving landscape itself became more complex, a report from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy finds.

Funded by the Vanguard Charitable Philanthropic Impact Fund and based on the Lilly School's Philanthropy Panel Study — a longitudinal data source that tracks the same nine thousand-plus families' charitable giving biennially — the report, Changes to the Giving Landscape (26 pages, PDF), found that the average amount given by donor households remained relatively constant between 2000 and 2016, while the share of U.S. households that gave to charity fell 13 percentage points, from 66.22 percent in 2000 to 53.09 percent in 2016, or about twenty million fewer households.

Among donor households overall, the report found no statistically significant difference in giving as a percentage of household income before (3.8 percent) and after (3.7 percent) the recession, with older households headed by members of the Greatest Generation contributing 8.8 percent after the recession, up from 6.94 percent pre-recession, and millennial households contributing 0.9 percent, up from 0.65 percent. However, giving as a percentage of income fell significantly among donor households led by individuals with less than a high school diploma (from 1.82 percent to 1.04 percent), those earning less than $50,000 a year (from 3.21 percent to 2.48 percent), and those with less than $50,000 in wealth.

According to the report, new technologies and models of engagement, including crowdfunding and commercially sponsored donor-advised funds, have grown in popularity, in part because of their appeal to younger audiences and people who may not have given previously.

"In the years since the Great Recession, many donors have exhibited tremendous resilience in supporting the causes that they care about during a period of prolonged economic uncertainty," said Vanguard Charitable president Jane Greenfield. "In the face of evolving giving patterns, macroeconomic volatility, shifting demographics, and the proliferation of new fundraising technologies, this report reveals relationships still rule the day. Finding ways to create meaningful engagement with donor communities remains key to sustaining existing donations and inspiring new generations to give."