Inflation Adjusted 10.5% Drop In 2022 Charitable Giving

From Wall Street Journal, Opinion, Commentary, "A Tax Deduction Won’t Save U.S. Charities: Adjusted for inflation, donations fell 10.5% last year from 2021." By Leslie Lenkowsky:

High inflation is hitting America’s charities. Donations last year dropped by 3.4% from 2021 levels, or 10.5% after adjusting for inflation, according to the Giving USA report released this week. Never in its more than 60-year history has this annual report recorded so steep a single-year decline in real dollars.***According to Giving USA’s inflation-adjusted estimates, all three main sources of philanthropy—corporations, individuals and foundations—cut back last year. At 6.4%, the decline in individual giving measured in nominal dollars approached that of the Great Recession, when philanthropy plummeted. Factoring in 2022’s inflation more than doubled the drop.

All kinds of charities saw giving slide. Inflation-adjusted declines for education and “public-society benefit” organizations (such as political advocacy, community development and policy research groups) exceeded the national drop, while giving to the arts, environment and human services almost matched it. Donors kept supporting religion and healthcare at close to 2021 levels.