Americans gave an estimated $617.2 billion to charity in 2025, according to Giving USA 2026, the annual report on philanthropy researched by Indiana University's Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and released in late June. It is the first time the total has crossed $600 billion, and the record is already appearing in conference keynotes and board decks. Before it appears in yours, look at where the growth came from — because the answer changes what a sensible 2026 plan looks like.
The Record Is Real, but the Growth Is Uneven
Total giving rose 5.7% in current dollars, which works out to 3% after inflation. By source:
- Bequests jumped 19.7% to $62.2 billion, growth of 16.6% even after inflation and by far the strongest rate of any source.
- Foundations gave $117.2 billion, up 5.7% in current dollars, continuing their long expansion.
- Individuals gave $394.2 billion, still roughly two-thirds of all giving, but the 4.1% increase shrinks to 1.4% after inflation.
- Corporations gave $43.7 billion, up 3.1%, essentially flat in real terms at 0.5%.
Two readings of that table are both true, and the difference matters. In raw dollars, living individuals still added the most new giving, roughly $15 billion year over year against about $10 billion from bequests. Adjusted for inflation, the picture flips: bequests contributed more real growth than individuals did. The report's researchers credit strong financial markets on both counts. Rising asset values lifted what estates and foundations had available to give and supported individual giving among donors who hold assets, while consumer sentiment near historic lows may have constrained some households.
One caveat before anyone draws conclusions about everyday donors: the individual category mixes small recurring gifts with megagifts. Associated Press coverage of the report notes that gifts of at least $600 million accounted for about $19.2 billion of 2025's individual giving, and Giving USA does not count donors. The topline figure cannot say how ordinary households behaved.
What Does 1.4% Real Growth Mean for Your Budget?
It means aggregate individual giving barely outpaced inflation, so a 2026 plan that assumes broad-based generosity growth is betting on a tailwind the data does not promise. If your income depends on annual-fund gifts from households, benchmark against roughly flat real growth and treat anything better as the product of your own retention and upgrade work rather than sector momentum. Organizations that beat a 1.4% environment do it one relationship at a time, not by riding the market.
Bequests Are the Number Worth Acting On
A 19.7% jump in bequest giving may be an early sign of the long-promised generational wealth transfer, though the honest label is signal, not trend. Bequest totals are volatile (a handful of large estates can swing a year), and researchers quoted in coverage of the report say more years of data are needed. What is not in doubt is that the money was real in 2025, and organizations with even a basic planned-giving door were the ones positioned to receive it. Planned giving has a reputation as a large-shop specialty, but the entry-level version costs almost nothing:
- Say that you accept bequests. A sentence on the donation page and in the newsletter footer beats silence, and it is a sentence many small organizations never get around to writing.
- Talk to your longest-tenured donors. Planned-giving research, notably the work of Texas Tech's Russell James on bequest decision-making, finds that donor loyalty predicts legacy gifts better than gift size does. A 15-year, $25-a-month donor is a stronger bequest prospect than much of a typical major-gift list.
- Give the conversation somewhere to land. Sample bequest language, your organization's legal name and EIN, and a named contact person are the whole starter kit.
On the recipient side, education (up 11.7%) and public-society benefit organizations (up 11.6%) grew fastest in 2025, while religion, still the largest destination at $151.6 billion, slipped slightly after inflation. Those figures describe calendar-year 2025 giving; they are a rearview mirror, not a forecast.
The takeaway
Quote the record, but plan against the breakdown: aggregate individual giving barely outpaced inflation, bequests and foundations supplied most of the real growth, and the individual topline says nothing about ordinary households in particular. Budget conservatively for annual-fund growth, put real effort into keeping the donors you already have, and spend one afternoon this quarter standing up basic bequest language. The $600 billion sector is real; your share of it still has to be earned donor by donor.