Charity breakdown
To what donors give
Charitable giving happens in many different forms and at different levels of impact. At Mite we know that every act of charity, from the seemingly smallest gesture to the very largest contribution, is a powerful act that is able to impact lives and even change the world! That is what we believe. Because of that belief, we take managing every donation made to our organization very seriously. That is what we do.
But did you ever wonder what type of organizations and areas of charity receive donor funds. Below we have listed a number of different statistics obtained through Nonprofitsource.com. These statistics are focused solely on the charity represented by the $410 Billion contributed within the United State in 2017. Worldwide the numbers may differ significantly, but we think $410 Billion should give us an idea of what is happening in the world of charity. So let’s dive in.
2017 charity statistics
What type of organizations do people give to?
- Each individual donor made contributions to an average of 4.5 charities in 2017.
- 32% of all donations were given to religious organizations, such as local places of worship.
- 31% of charitable giving was donated to organizations outside of the United States.
- 41% of all giving was done in response to natural disasters.
Charities work in many different areas. In which areas were people most likely to give?
- At $127 Billion received, Religious organizations and those charities working within this field received 32% of all giving.
- 14% of all donations were given to Educational charities. This totaled almost $59 Billion dollars.
- Human Services charities received around 12% of all donor giving for a total dollar amount of 50 Billion.
- Foundations, public & private, received almost $46 Billion in charitable giving or 11% of the overall donations.
- Charities working in the area of Health and Medical services received 9% of the total giving. Over $38 Billion was given to this area.
- Public-Society Benefit charities received 7% of donated dollars. That’s just under $30 Billion. According to Marketplace.org these organizations work with “voter education, civil rights, civil liberties, consumer rights and community development.”
- International charities received almost $23 Billion which totaled out to around 6% of the overall donated dollars.
- Charities within the Arts, Culture and Humanities fields received 5% of all donations. Totaling out to just under $20 Billion.
- Environmental / Animal related charities received almost $12 Billion in charitable giving which accounted for around 3% of the overall amount.
Conclusion from statistics
So the statics clearly show that people who give tend to limit their donations, at least in the form of dollars, to a handful of organizations. Among those organizations, it is highly likely that there will be a house of worship. The statistic also show that donors within a particular country are much more likely to give to charity work within their own country.