Philanthropy Roundtable President and CEO Elise Westhoff appeared on the nationally syndicated television news show “The National Desk” with correspondent Angela Brown to discuss another record-breaking year in charitable giving despite the threat of inflation.
Westoff said charitable giving rose 15% on Giving Tuesday this year, and that this is a good indicator for what is to come in 2023.
Watch the segment here (starting at 39:48):
Brown cited a Philanthropy Roundtable report showing that philanthropy research indicates Americans with any religious affiliation give more in annual charitable donations than those with no religious affiliation. She also cited a report by Giving USA which found that the largest portion of donations in 2021 went to religious organizations and that individuals, foundations and corporations all gave more last year despite inflation.
“Many of these religious organizations are not just keeping their lights on in their churches, or synagogues, or mosques, they’re also helping their communities – they’re doing outreach, education, providing food, job fairs.” Westhoff said.
To conclude the segment, Westhoff shared her optimism as we close out 2022 giving and approach a new year, “Everyone expected giving to go down. That was the expectation, but Americans were more generous than ever last year.”
