What the 2026 Giving USA Report Means for Your Nonprofit

Every year, the Giving USA report gives us the clearest picture we have of how Americans give. And every year, it's a beast to get through — hundreds of pages of data. So I read it so you don't have to. Here's what the 2026 report (covering 2025) actually found, and what it means for your

fundraising.

A record year for giving

For the first time ever, total charitable giving in the United States crossed $600 billion — $617.2 billion in 2025, up 5.7% over the year before (3.0% after inflation).

Growth was broad. All four sources gave more than the year before. Bequests jumped nearly 20% — the largest increase of any source. And giving rose across nearly every cause, including human services, education, health, and the arts. In a shaky economy, Americans kept showing up for the causes they believe in.

The one number that should shape your strategy

Now look at where the giving comes from.

On paper, individuals gave 64% of every charitable dollar. But here's how I'd ask you to read it: count bequests — the gifts people leave through their estates — as individual giving too, because that's exactly what they are. People give during their lifetime, and after. Put them together, and individuals accounted for about 74% of all giving in 2025. Foundations: 19%. Corporations: just 7%.

And even that understates it. Behind most foundation and corporate gifts is an individual — a board member, a program officer, a champion on the inside pushing for the gift. Institutions don't give. People do.

What this means for your nonprofit

If nearly three-quarters of all giving comes from individuals, that's where your biggest and most reliable opportunity lives — not grants, not corporate sponsorships, but individual donors, one relationship at a time.

And reaching them well takes more than a development director who takes donors to lunch. It takes infrastructure: the systems, the segmentation, and the consistent communication that keep those relationships moving forward even when your team is stretched thin. That's the part most small shops skip — and it's the part that compounds, year after year.

The timing matters, too

There's a reason this lands now. The bulk of individual giving happens at year-end: more than 30% of all annual giving comes in December, and about 10% in the last three days of the year alone. Your single biggest revenue window is only a few weeks away.

The organizations that walk into December ready will capture it. The ones scrambling a last-minute email won't. If you want to make the most of your year-end, the time to build is now.

Want help?

Your individual donors are your most renewable source of revenue — and this is the season that proves it. If you'd like an expert to build your year-end campaign for you, here's how that works. And if you're ready to invest in individual giving all year long, that's what my fractional fundraising work is for.

Source: Giving USA 2026: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2025, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.