Wealthy Donors Are Giving 30% More Than a Decade Ago, but Fewer Are Giving at All

The 2025 Bank of America Study of Philanthropy, released September 30, 2025 in partnership with the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, found that total giving by wealthy households has climbed more than 30% over the past decade even as the share of affluent households donating anything at all has fallen from 91% in 2015 to 81% in 2024. The biennial survey of 1,514 households with a net worth above $1 million or income above $200,000, excluding the value of a primary home, is one of the longest-running looks at how the wealthy give.

What changed

The study's core finding is a split: dollars are up, participation is down. Average giving among affluent households that do donate reached $33,219 in 2024, more than ten times the average for the general population, according to the Bank of America release. Personal values and beliefs remain the top motivator, cited by 68% of donors, and 87% say giving is personally fulfilling. But the narrowing of who gives at all means total philanthropic dollars are increasingly concentrated among a smaller group of larger donors, a pattern that mirrors broader trends in wealth concentration over the same period.

Who is affected

The data speaks directly to households already in After TAX's core audience: those with income above $200,000 or net worth above $1 million who make up the study's entire sample. For this group, the study is less a call to action than a mirror, showing how peers are structuring gifts and what is driving participation up or down. Nonprofits reliant on smaller, more frequent gifts from the broader affluent population may need to work harder to retain donors even as their largest supporters give more, while advisors serving high-net-worth clients are seeing giving increasingly channeled through structured vehicles rather than one-off checks.

The after-tax math

Example: a couple with $2 million in a taxable brokerage account holds $500,000 of long-term appreciated stock with a $150,000 cost basis. Selling the stock outright to fund a $100,000 gift would trigger capital gains tax on the portion sold, but donating $100,000 of the appreciated shares directly, through a donor-advised fund or straight to a charity, avoids capital gains tax on that stock entirely and still generates a $100,000 charitable deduction, subject to the usual adjusted-gross-income limits on gifts of appreciated securities. For a household in the top bracket, that combination is often worth tens of thousands of dollars more after tax than selling first and donating cash, which is one reason donor-advised funds and gifts of stock have grown as a share of total giving among the wealthy even as headline donor participation has slipped.

What to watch

Starting in 2026, a new rule from the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act requires itemizers to reduce their charitable deduction by an amount equal to 0.5% of adjusted gross income before claiming the rest, effectively creating a floor below which giving generates no additional tax benefit. Households that itemize and give close to that floor may find their deduction shrinks slightly starting next year, which tax and philanthropy advisors have flagged as a reason some donors are considering accelerating larger gifts into 2025 while the current rules still apply in full. Whether that pull-forward effect shows up in next year's giving data, and whether it further narrows or widens the gap between how many people give and how much they give, is worth watching in the next edition of this survey.

Why fewer households are giving

The study points to a mix of explanations rather than a single cause. Volunteering time has actually risen, with 43% of affluent individuals contributing time in 2024 compared with 30% in 2020, suggesting some households are substituting engagement for cash gifts rather than withdrawing from philanthropy altogether. Rising costs of living even among the affluent, more selective giving focused on fewer causes a donor feels strongly about, and a generational shift as younger heirs favor impact investing and hands-on involvement over traditional checkbook philanthropy all appear in the underlying survey data as contributing factors. The result is a philanthropic sector that looks healthy by dollar volume but is quietly becoming more dependent on a shrinking pool of large, engaged donors, a concentration dynamic that nonprofits and their boards may need to plan around regardless of what any single household decides to do this year.

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