U.S. charitable giving tops $617.2 billion as bequests and megadonors drive growth

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U.S. giving tops $617B record

Highlights

U.S. charitable donations reached a record $617.2 billion in 2025, rising 5.7% year-over-year and exceeding $600 billion for the first time.
Charitable bequests surged 16.6% to $62.19 billion, driven in part by a $3.1 billion estate fund from late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen.
Nine megadonors contributed $22.32 billion in 2025, with MacKenzie Scott leading at $6.65 billion, indicating increasing dependence on ultra-wealthy philanthropy.

Record donations in 2025 report

As reported by CNBC, donors gave an estimated $617.2 billion to U.S. charities in 2025, up 5.7% from a year earlier and 3% after adjusting for inflation. The annual report, published by the Giving USA Foundation, says this is the first time total yearly giving has surpassed $600 billion in its 60-year history.

Individual donors remained the largest source of contributions at $394.2 billion, but that category rose only 1.4% in inflation-adjusted terms. Charitable bequests, gifts made after death, climbed 16.6% to about $62.19 billion, suggesting estate wealth is playing a larger role in the sector's funding base.

Jon Bergdoll, the report's lead analyst and interim director of data and research partnerships at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University, says it is still too early to determine how much of the bequest increase is tied to the Great Wealth Transfer. He says the clearer link is between rising net worth among wealthy Americans and the stock market rally, which tends to support larger charitable gifts over time.

Growing dependence on wealthy donors

Between 2024 and 2025, the S&P 500 rose 13.4% in inflation-adjusted dollars, far outpacing the growth in total giving, the report says. Bergdoll attributes part of that gap to modest gross domestic product growth and weak consumer sentiment, which can limit donations from households that do not share equally in market gains.

The report also estimates donors gave an additional $1.71 billion in 2025 to benefit from tax incentives set to decline under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Even so, that increase is small relative to overall contributions.

Giving is becoming more concentrated among the ultra-wealthy. The report estimates nine donors accounted for $22.32 billion of total philanthropy in 2025, with MacKenzie Scott contributing the largest share at $6.65 billion.

Large estate gifts also reshape yearly totals. Nearly a third of the increase in bequest giving came from the estate of late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, which established a $3.1 billion fund for science and technology research.

Gabe Cooper, vice chair of the Giving USA Foundation and chief executive of fundraising platform Virtuous, says megagifts are valuable but can leave nonprofits too dependent on a small group of wealthy donors whose giving may be volatile. He says the longer-term opportunity for philanthropy may lie with heirs receiving transferred wealth and the choices they make about charitable giving.

Our earlier coverage on Wall Street’s increasingly bullish S&P 500 outlook explained why major strategists have been lifting year-end targets as corporate earnings expectations improve. We also noted that while profit strength has helped keep equities resilient, longer-term risks such as large fiscal deficits and weaker household savings could eventually weigh on valuations if bond yields rise.

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