#GivingTuesday 2018: What to Know

We hope everyone is coming in this Monday well rested, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to take on the week, especially with the biggest giving day less than a day away. Last year, #GivingTuesday brought in an estimated $274 million.

How close will we get to $300 million this year?

Charitable giving is on the rise; there’s no doubt about that. We hope that all of your efforts and planning will bring your 2018 goals into fruition, and it will—which is why we are looking forward to finding out the results on Wednesday.

In the meanwhile, we want to bring to light some charitable giving trends that were discovered in “The 2018 U.S. Trust Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy: Portraits of Generosity,” conducted by U.S. Trust and Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

Researchers discovered eight key themes in the study:

1. Charitable giving remains important to high-net-worth households.
2. Women are in the forefront of philanthropic engagement and impact.
3. Giving is being shaped by a diverse universe of donors.
4. Impact matters.
5. Those with a higher degree of knowledge about charitable giving are more likely to have a giving strategy.
6. Donors have high expectations of the organizations they support.
7. A majority of wealthy donors plan to maintain giving levels, despite recent tax law changes.
8. Confidence in nonprofit organizations’ ability to address social and global issues remains strong.

Who Is Giving?

In 2017, 90 percent of high-net-worth households in the U.S. donated to charity, compared to 56 percent of general households. This was a 15 percent rise from the year prior, raising the dollar amount of giving in 2017 to $29,269.

Here’s a breakdown of who gave to charity in 2017:

• 93 percent of women and 87 percent of men.
• 84 percent were Millennials and 91 percent were older than Millennials.
• 92 percent were African American, 90 percent were White, 89 percent were Hispanic and 85 percent were Asian American.

What Are They Giving To?

High-net-worth households tend to give to more charitable organizations. Nearly 49 percent of wealthy donors gave to five organizations or more, but those donors who had a charitable giving strategy typically gave to more organizations (nine on average). In addition, those who have a giving vehicle (e.g. donor-advised fund or private foundation) gave to 10 organizations on average.

The top five charitable categories that high-net-worth households gave to were basic needs (54 percent), religious or spiritual (49 percent), health care or medical research (36 percent), combined charities (31 percent) and youth or family services (29 percent).

2017 was a hard year; there were a number of natural disasters that affected our communities—Hurricanes Harvey, Maria and Irma, the earthquakes in Mexico, the wildfires in California.

Among high-net-worth households, 25 percent gave to disaster reliefs. And due to the number of natural disasters that occurred in 2017, many speculated that it would affect charitable giving. Research found that 6 percent decreased giving to other causes, 4 percent increased giving to other causes and a staggering 89 percent had no effect on their charitable giving.

To learn more, download your free copy of this report here.