Charitable giving, a year in review

About a third of all annual giving happens in December, making the end of the year a crucial time for non-profits. It was especially important in 2025 for many nonprofits that lost federal funding to budget cuts by the Trump administration and GOP lawmakers.  

​The year just ended, so it’s still too early for a complete picture of just how much private donations may have helped fill that gap. ​But here’s one metric: On Giving Tuesday, one of the biggest fundraising days of the year, more than 38 million people gave a record $4 billion to charities.

At the beginning of 2025, it felt like everyone was in wait-and-see mode, at least to Erica Campbell at Second Harvest Heartland food bank in Minnesota.

“There was a lot of change, a lot of economic uncertainty, and we could really feel that in terms of our fundraising,” she said.

​Campbell runs fundraising for Second Harvest Heartland as its chief development officer. She said donations in 2025 stayed slow, for a while.

But then came October and the government shutdown, which included a pause in food assistance benefits, or SNAP.

“The conversations that we were having locally and nationally around SNAP were just incredible. And I think it opened the eyes of a lot of people,” she said.

​Just since the shutdown, Campbell said, 7,000 people have donated to Second Harvest Heartland. That’s more than all of last year.  

Big events and stories in the news, like the shutdown or the Los Angeles fires, often drive people to donate to nonprofits and individuals.

Sarah Peck at GoFundMe said 2025 was a record year for the fundraising site.

“There were nearly 80 million donations to individuals and nonprofits on our platform,” she said. ​That’s up from about 65 million donations in 2024.  

“And we actually saw that the fastest growing category on our platform this year were donations to charities,” she added. ​Meaning to nonprofits, rather than individuals.  

For many nonprofits, private donations have been critical.

The International Rescue Committee, which supports refugees and displaced people around the world, lost millions in federal money last year because of Trump administration cuts.

Matthew Collins, IRC’s vice president for philanthropy, said that was the majority of the organization’s funding.

“But I think what we've seen in the last year is real encouraging signs on the private side, whether that's small dollar donors or established philanthropists or foundations or corporations,” he said.

​Things have been similar at Feeding South Florida, where Paco Vélez is CEO.

The food bank lost about $13 million in federal funding last year — about 30% of its budget. It also saw a recent increase in private donations.

“However, the uptick in donations here towards the end has really only kept up with the need… If I could draw you two line graphs, those line graphs stick together, right?” Vélez said.

Both are rising, he said, but need is rising faster.