Although cash donations have long dominated research on charitable giving, the COVID-19 pandemic brought increased attention to other forms of giving, such as mutual aid and crowdfunding.

In our latest update to the Urban Institute’s Giving Dashboard, which provides a snapshot of the many ways Americans give, we highlight how giving via mutual aid, crowdfunding, and individual monetary donations has recently declined. Meanwhile, the value of donor-advised funds (DAFs) and noncash charitable contributions has risen. Tracking these and other trends in charitable giving can help nonprofit and philanthropy leaders adapt to the evolving giving landscape and sustain their organizations in the long term.

Here are five trends in charitable giving to watch:

1. Donor-advised funds (DAFs) are an increasingly popular tool for giving.

   DAFs allow individuals and organizations to contribute money to a giving account, receive an immediate tax deduction, and give grants to nonprofits at a later time. Between 2016 and 2022, the number of DAFs in the US increased by 572 percent, and contributions to DAFs increased by 239 percent. In 2022, the average DAF account held $117,466. Further, from 2018 to 2022, the amount of money DAFs sponsored by community foundations distributed to nonprofits increased by 74 percent.

2. Individual cash donations are declining.

   According to some indicators on the Giving Dashboard, both the number of individuals who gave to nonprofits and the amount individuals donated decreased in both 2022 and 2023. This trend is important for nonprofit and philanthropy leaders to watch because individual giving is the largest source of charitable contributions for nonprofits. Most nonprofits, especially smaller ones, say donations from individuals are essential or very important to their work. When individual donations decrease, nonprofits lose the critical resources they need to achieve their missions. Further, as the number of donors decreases, giving can become less democratic because a smaller pool of donors is expressing their preferences through giving.

3. Donations of noncash assets are rising.

   The annual value of noncash charitable contributions—a broad range of items that includes stocks, securities, vehicles, intellectual property, clothing, land, and buildings—increased by 135 percent between 2013 and 2021. Noncash assets have also become an increasingly popular way to give. Among all itemized charitable contributions, the share of noncash donations increased from 27 percent in 2013 to 46 percent in 2021.

   According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), most itemized noncash charitable contributions are stocks (PDF). Given the positive performance of the stock market between 2013 and 2021, the increase in noncash donations, particularly stocks, could have been a way for donors to reduce the capital gains tax they owe. We’ll learn more about this trend next year, when the IRS releases noncash charitable contribution data for 2022, a negative year for the stock market.

4. Workplace giving is changing.

   Created in 1961 by then-president John F. Kennedy, the Combined Federal Campaign is one of the largest workplace giving programs in the US. The program allows federal employees to deduct charitable contributions from their paychecks or give by credit card, debit card, or bank transfer to vetted charities. Since its creation, it has raised almost $8.7 billion.

   But pledges to the Combined Federal Campaign have declined since 2010. Our dashboard shows that between 2017 and 2023, the annual dollars pledged to the campaign declined by 32 percent, and the number of donors dropped by 56 percent.

   However, workplace giving is not obsolete. New workplace giving platforms like Benevity, Bonterra, Millie, and POINT have gained popularity as the Combined Federal Campaign has lost support. The value of donations made through Benevity has increased in recent years, suggesting that the workplace will continue to be an important locus of giving for many Americans.

5. Mutual aid and crowdfunding are losing momentum.

   Although giving through mutual aid and crowdfunding soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, use of these tools has slowed more recently.

   From March to December 2020, more than 11,000 donations were made to mutual aid networks through ioby, a crowdfunding platform. But in 2021 and 2022, donations decreased, with fewer than 4,000 donations made in 2022. Additionally, crowdfunding via GoFundMe climbed by $10 million between 2021 and 2022, but it grew by only half as much from 2022 to 2023. Grants and contributions to DonorsChoose—which enables teachers to set up crowdfunding campaigns for classroom projects—increased year-over-year from 2019 to 2021 but decreased in 2022.

   More data are needed, but these indicators suggest that mutual aid and crowdfunding may be losing steam now that the pandemic has receded.

Understanding giving patterns requires more than just monitoring trends in individual cash donations. To support their work in the long term, nonprofit and philanthropy leaders should consider the many ways Americans give today.