The latest Giving USA Report offers a compelling snapshot of generosity in America and important lessons for church leaders navigating stewardship, fundraising, and financial sustainability. Jonathan Page highlights four key findings from the report and explores what they reveal about the opportunities and challenges facing congregations as they seek to fund mission-driven ministry in an evolving philanthropic landscape.
On June 23, Giving USA released Giving USA 2026: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2025 which analyzes the state of charitable giving in the U.S. in 2025. Every year, this report offers a valuable lens into the state of philanthropy and generosity in the U.S., and this year is no different. As church leaders imagine their work around stewardship, fundraising, and financial management, there are four highlights in the Giving USA report that are important for consideration:
1. There is more money being given now than at any point in our country’s history.
The total amount of charitable giving in the U.S. in 2025 was $617.2 billion. This is a milestone in generosity as it represents the first year in which charitable giving surpassed $600 billion. Giving USA reports that this is over a 5% increase in total dollars, with that increase measuring closer to 3% when accounting for inflation.
Given the state of the economy, this is a remarkable data point. It serves as a reminder to church leaders that money is available and the desire to be generous is present in many spaces around the country. Creating clear systems for encouraging and seeking generosity is an essential step for church leaders as they budget and practice effective financial management. This work cannot be limited only to asks of individuals in a local congregation, as the next highlight demonstrates.
2. Individual generosity is significant, but there is serious growth in bequests and generosity from foundations.
Individual generosity represented the most significant form of generosity in 2025, totaling nearly $400 billion. The greatest growth in generosity, however, came from bequests. Bequest giving, a form of generosity that comes from someone leaving all or some of their estate to a church or organization upon their passing, was up nearly 20% in 2025. Additionally, giving from foundations—often done through grants—was up nearly 6% and totaled over $117 billion.
This is an important finding for church leaders. If you are relying on regular, individual generosity as the sole method for funding the budget of your local church, you are likely missing out on charitable giving dollars that can fund the mission of the church. Leaders need to engage members of their congregations and communities in conversations around bequest giving, offering people an opportunity to allow their generosity to long outlive them. Additionally, exploring grant opportunities is an essential practice. While taking big swings at grants from large foundations may offer appeal, many leaders can find more success building a grant portfolio at a local level, working with smaller, more concentrated foundations to establish a trajectory of sound grant management that can open doors to future grant-based generosity.
3. Giving is up, but religious generosity is growing at a slower rate than other categories.
Giving USA offers nine “recipient subsectors” that receive generosity. Of those, giving to religious institutions represents more total money given than any other category, summing over $150 billion. However, the trend year-to-year for religious generosity is significantly flatter than other categories.
What does this mean for church leaders? In all likelihood, this is a reminder that the collective heart of generosity continues to grow in the U.S., but people are more diverse with their generosity now than at any other time in human history. There are now over 1.5 million 501(c)3 organizations in the U.S. Each of these organizations has some specificity of purpose which allows donors to offer charitable giving in incredibly specific ways. While tithing is an important spiritual practice, to suggest that this alone can serve as the purpose for generosity in a local church is to miss the mark and fall behind the purposeful opportunities other organizations give donors for their generosity.
4. Leaders need to have clarity around priorities for generosity and effectiveness of generosity practices in their local church.
It’s unclear whether he coined the phrase, but Clif Christopher, expert in stewardship and generosity, has noted “money follows mission.” The data from Giving USA is a reminder that church leaders must offer clarity around the impact of financial generosity. Offering congregants and community members a window into the transformation their giving helps to create in the lives of individuals and communities increases the likelihood that generosity will maintain or grow. Doing this well means local churches need to think about budgetary priorities. Trying to fund everything under the sun often dilutes the power of charitable giving and creates unsustainable organizational pressure. Having a clear, concise set of budgetary priorities can influence generosity in a positive direction.
Likewise, there is a need to evaluate the methodologies by which churches are asking for charitable giving. Are you running the same annual campaign you’ve been using for the last decade? Is it up to the pastor alone or a handful of people from a finance committee to make asks for contributions, or is that work more distributed? Have you endeavored to apply for grants or seek bequests and where might there be new opportunities to explore those lanes of generosity? Asking a few simple questions and taking some new risks could lead to opportunities for giving in the local church that have yet to be realized.
In Conclusion
It is encouraging to see the state of generosity in the U.S. At a time where it can feel as if resources are scarce, the data shows that there is opportunity and desire for charitable giving in the country. Church leaders now are faced with a need to assess how we might best tap into these resources and create sustainability for essential ministries long into the future.
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Related Resources
- 50 Ways to Encourage Faithful Giving, a free resource from the Lewis Center
- Theology of Stewardship and Biblical Generosity, a Lewis Center video tool kit resource
- Summary of Giving USA 2026: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2025
- Full Giving USA 2026: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2025
- Proactive Steps for Congregational Budget Success by Andreá Cummings
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