At Foundations on the Hill in Washington, D.C., CMF members recently educated our Michigan lawmakers on Capitol Hill about the importance of incentivizing giving for all Americans and provided additional context to recent charitable giving data.

As the United Philanthropy Forum shared in a recent blog post, charitable giving data that showed overall giving had increased about 1.5 percent in 2018 perhaps doesn’t tell the whole story. While overall giving may have slightly increased, the number of donors decreased.

Now, the United Way has created a visual snapshot of data to provide more context on the current state of preliminary 2018 charitable giving results.

Highlights include:

• Between 2014 and 2017, charitable giving has either matched or exceeded GDP growth, except in 2018 when charitable giving only grew by half the GDP growth.

• For those who give less than $1,000, overall giving declined in 2018.

• When it comes to year-end giving, charitable giving dropped 2.3 percent in December 2018 compared to December 2017.

• The percentage of households making charitable gifts has been steadily on the decline for years.

• Itemizers (those who can utilize the charitable tax deduction) give at more than twice the rate of non-itemizers.

While it will likely be months, if not years, before we know the true quantitative impact of the 2017 Tax Act on charitable giving, we do know it is still projected to reduce giving by up to $19 billion a year and result in the loss of more than 220,000 jobs.

In conversations with our lawmakers, CMF members and staff asked for support around efforts that would incentivize charitable giving either through making it available above the line or through a tax credit.

CMF has also requested nonpartisan data on the impact of the 2017 Tax Act on charitable giving and jobs in the nonprofit sector.

Want more?

View United Way’s infographic.