Report: 2014 Charitable Giving Poised to Grow Almost 9 Percent Over 2013

(Press release, Dec. 18, 2014) — Atlas of Giving announced that total giving to U.S. charities in 2014 is projected to grow past the $450 billion mark, an increase of almost 9 percent over the 2013 total, according to a recent report released by the Atlas of Giving. In 2013, Americans gave a record $416.7 billion to charitable causes.

According to the report, a continuing bull stock market, low interest rates, improving employment and a lack of inflation have combined to drive strong broad-based giving to the charitable sector in 2014. The greatest gains in gift revenue are being experienced by human services organizations, educational institutions and environmental causes, with each category experiencing double-digit growth in gift revenue.

While giving to health organizations and religious causes continues to grow, the pace of growth in giving to these categories is slower than the growth in overall giving. Giving to religion remains the largest revenue category but is expected to fall from 34 percent of total giving in 2013 to 33 percent in 2014, representing a continuing loss of market share within the charitable economy by the religion sector.

The bulk of U.S. giving (74 percent) is done by individuals. However, foundations are currently the fastest-growing source of gifts. Foundation giving is expected to increase over 12 percent in 2014 to a total of over $65 billion.

"Going into 2015, charities would be well-advised to beef up efforts to pursue foundation grants," said Rob Mitchell, CEO of the Atlas of Giving. "Foundation grants, along with distributions from increasingly popular donor-advised funds, will represent strong opportunities for nonprofits in the months ahead."

The figures contained in the Atlas of Giving report are based on actual giving data through the end of November 2014, combined with forecasted data for giving during December 2014. Next month, the Atlas will release a complete report containing actual giving figures for 2014, as well as a forecast for giving in 2015. Both the report on 2014 giving and the 2015 forecast will contain national totals as well as giving data broken down by charitable sector, gift source and state.

Reports published by the Atlas of Giving are available at no charge at www.atlasofgiving.com.