Giving USA 2026: Bequests and $617.2B in Giving

By Amanda L. Cole

U.S. charitable giving reached an estimated $617.2 billion in 2025, a record high in current dollars — but what pushed it over the mark was not a broad, even lift across all donor types. It was primarily a sharp jump in bequests.

Total giving rose 5.7% in current dollars and 3% after inflation from the previous year, according to “Giving USA 2026: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2025.” The report also revised its 2024 estimate upward to $592.5 billion, reflecting Giving USA Foundation’s standard practice of updating prior-year estimates as more complete IRS and economic data become available.

“U.S. charitable giving exceeded $600 billion in 2025, a milestone that reflects the resilience of American generosity,” Wendy McGrady, chair of Giving USA Foundation and president and chief operating officer of The Curtis Group, said in a statement. “Amid a volatile economy and ongoing financial pressures for many households, it’s heartening to see generosity at this scale.”

Giving Sources and Where the Growth Came From

Giving USA’s topline shows all four sources of giving — individuals, foundations, bequests, and corporations — increasing in current dollars in 2025, but they did not all pull the same weight.

Giving USA 2026 estimates that in 2025, individuals provided 64% of total U.S. charitable giving, foundations 19%, bequests 10% and corporations 7%, out of $617.2 billion in total contributions. | Credit: Giving USA Foundation, “Giving USA 2026: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2025”

Bequests

Bequests are historically the most volatile of Giving USA’s four sources, with year-to-year swings that can be driven by a small number of very large estates. After declining to $51.95 billion in 2024, charitable bequests totaled approximately $62.2 billion in 2025, up 19.7% in current dollars and 16.6% after inflation.

That roughly $10 billion rebound accounted for about one-third of the $33.3 billion jump in total giving between 2024 and 2025, even though bequests comprise only about 10% of total giving. Bequests may be playing a larger role in annual growth swings amid the Great Wealth Transfer, as trillions of dollars in assets shift from older generations to younger generations and charities.

Foundation and Corporate Giving

Foundation giving remained a relative bright spot. Foundations gave about $117.2 billion in 2025, a 5.7% increase (3% inflation-adjusted), continuing a trend of foundation giving staying above $100 billion each year since 2022. Supported by strong investment returns and endowment gains, foundation giving made up 19% of total giving. Recent research found foundation dollars rarely replaced delayed or reduced government funding as many nonprofits had anticipated.

Some in the sector also hoped corporate giving, which includes cash and in-kind contributions, as well as grants from corporate foundations, could help offset funding gaps. With 7% of total giving, corporate giving reached roughly $43.7 billion. However, corporate giving grew more slowly in 2025 — up 3.1% in current dollars and remaining essentially flat when adjusted for inflation — and contributed far less to overall growth than bequests and foundations. In fact, survey data suggests that many companies are narrowing or reshaping their philanthropy in response to political and regulatory scrutiny.

Individual Giving

Individuals remained the largest source of charitable support, accounting for 64% of total giving. In 2025, individual giving was estimated at $394.2 billion, up 4.1% in current dollars and 1.4% after inflation.

Meanwhile, the Fundraising Effectiveness Project’s 2025 data shows revenue gains concentrated in larger gifts, while the number of donors giving less than $1,000 has stagnated or declined. There are also ongoing declines in total donor counts and challenges in retaining first-time donors, even when overall dollars are up.

“At the macro level, most economic indicators were favorable for giving, and financial markets ended the year strong, which resulted in positive overall growth in giving in 2025,” Jon Bergdoll, interim director of data and research partnerships at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, which researches and writes the report, said in a statement. “While individual giving grew, we see that consumer sentiment was low, perhaps reflecting concerns about financial security. Those concerns may have cooled giving by some households.”