NATIONWIDE — The numbers are in for Giving Tuesday; it’s an international day of charity in its eighth edition.
- Record year expected for charitable giving in U.S.
- Fewer people are giving more
- Giving Tuesday raised almost $2 billion in one day
"$511 million was donated online on #GivingTuesday,” tweeted Giving Tuesday CEO and co-founder Asha Curran.
And as the first week of December comes to a close, are Americans giving more?
Well, it's a mixed bag when it comes to charity in the U.S.
Americans are giving more today than ever before — it's the American way.
The U.S. has been the most generous country in the world for the last decade, reported UK-based World Giving Index.
As proof, Giving Tuesday raised almost $2 billion if you count offline donations.
And since it is December — typically the largest month for giving according to Consumer Reports.org — and folks are looking to donate, we're also on pace for another record.
The U.S. is expected to reach $442 billion worth of charity in 2019.
But there is a trend of less participation by the country as a whole. Therefore, fewer people are giving more.
Trends tracked by Non-Profit Quarterly's Where Have All the Donors Gone? found in 2000 there was a larger share of American households donating at 62 percent.
It went down to 53 percent in 2016 and even lower in 2018.
Studies show it's due to tax policy such as the 2017 tax law which disincentivizes smaller donors.
A take-away from the Giving USA 2019 report found "in spite of the fact that disposable personal income and gross domestic product grew by at least 5 percent in 2018 over 2017, household giving fell by an estimated 3.4 percent."
It means more corporations and foundations are balancing out the drop in individuals' charity giving.
The two organizations seeing an increase, according to the report, are for environmental and animal rights causes.
Personal finance site Wallet-Hub released their study of most charitable states.
Florida is in the middle of the pack for charitable giving with a ranking of 23.