Share of Americans who give to charity declining

The percentage of people in the U.S. who make charitable donations in a year has been falling for years. According to the most recent data available, it declined by nearly 4 percentage points between 2018 and 2020, the year when the COVID-19 pandemic began and millions of people were suddenly experiencing economic hardship.

Bar chart showing that the share of Americans giving to charity fell from 61.5% in 2010 to 46.9% in 2020.