Americans were a generous lot on Giving Tuesday this year.
According to estimates from the nonprofit GivingTuesday, Americans donated some $4 billion this year, up from the $3.6 billion they gave in 2024.
More people also volunteered their time on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving this year, which fell on Dec. 2 and has become a major fundraising day for nonprofits. This year, 11.1 million people in the U.S. volunteered, up from, 9.2 million last year, according to a report from The Associated Press.
GivingTuesday started in 2012 as a hashtag and a project of the 92nd St Y in New York and has since become an independent nonprofit. The group estimates how much was given and how many people volunteer using data from a wide variety of sources, including giving platforms, payment processors and software applications that nonprofits use.
Woodrow Rosenbaum, the chief data officer for GivingTuesday, said both the number of people giving and the overall donation amount may have increased this year as people seek a sense of belonging and connection.
“Generosity is a really powerful way to get that,” Rosenbaum said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But I think mostly it’s just that when people see need, they want to do something about it and GivingTuesday is an opportunity to do that in a moment of celebration as opposed to crisis.”
Overall donations increased 8.1% from last year when adjusted for inflation. GivingTuesday has also seen the average donation increase in size over time and Rosenbaum said people may be seeking additional ways to give as well.
“Volunteering is a way that you can add to your impact without it costing you money,” he said.
Not everyone who volunteers their time does so through a nonprofit. They may volunteer with mutual aid groups or by helping out family members or neighbors, he said.
Giving Tuesday does not include donations from corporations or foundations in their estimate, Rosenbaum said, as they are focused on the everyday generosity of individuals. That means they did not include the gift from billionaires Michael and Susan Dell of $6.25 billion to encourage families to claim new investment accounts created by the Trump administration.
