Charitable donations across North America in 2025 reflect a sector in transition. While total giving remains historically strong, nonprofits and charities are adapting to changing donor behavior, economic pressure, and a growing reliance on larger gifts. This overview explores key donation statistics, the size of the nonprofit sector, and what these trends mean for the future of philanthropy in the United States and Canada.
Total Charitable Giving in North America
The most reliable benchmark for recent giving comes from the Giving USA 2025 report, which shows that Americans donated approximately $592.5 billion to charitable causes in 2024. This represented a 6.3% increase in current dollars and a 3.3% increase after adjusting for inflation. These figures set the baseline for how nonprofits evaluated fundraising performance throughout 2025.
Key Donation & Sector Statistics
Metric | United States | Canada |
|---|---|---|
Total Annual Donations | $592.5B (latest full-year benchmark) | ~$23B (tax-receipted gifts) |
Registered Nonprofits | ~1.9M nonprofits | ~86K charities (~170K total) |
Primary Trend in 2025 | Growth driven by large gifts | Higher average gift, fewer donors |
Fundraising Trends in 2025
Near real-time data from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project indicates that charitable donations in 2025 continued to grow modestly, with year-to-date dollars raised up approximately 3–4%. However, this growth was uneven. Large and mid-sized gifts increased, while the number of small-dollar donors declined, raising concerns about long-term donor pipelines.
Donor Behavior and Public Sentiment
Public sentiment toward giving shifted noticeably in 2025. A national AP-NORC poll found that many Americans planned fewer year-end charitable donations, citing inflation, housing costs, and general economic uncertainty. This disconnect—strong total dollars but fewer donors—has become one of the defining features of modern philanthropy.
The Canadian Giving Landscape
In Canada, charitable giving remained substantial but similarly complex. Canada Revenue Agency data shows roughly $23 billion in tax-receipted donations, while platforms such as CanadaHelps reported continued growth in online donations. As in the U.S., higher-value gifts are increasingly offsetting a gradual decline in donor participation.
What This Means for Nonprofits Going Forward
The story of charitable donations in North America in 2025 is not one of decline, but of transformation. Nonprofits that succeed in the years ahead will be those that focus on donor retention, transparency, and impact storytelling. As economic pressure reshapes how and why people give, organizations that make philanthropy feel accessible and meaningful will be best positioned to thrive.
References & Data Sources
· Giving USA 2025 Report – https://givingusa.org
· Fundraising Effectiveness Project – https://afpglobal.org
· AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research – https://apnorc.org
· Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Nonprofit Data – https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits
· Canada Revenue Agency – https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency.html
· CanadaHelps Giving Report – https://www.canadahelps.org