Study: Only half of American households donate to charity

For the first time in nearly two decades, only half of US households donated to a charity, according to a study released Tuesday. The findings confirm a trend worrying experts: Donations to charitable causes are reaching record highs, but the giving is done by a smaller and smaller slice of the population.

The study, published every other year by Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, comes from a survey that has been tracking the giving patterns of more than 9,000 households since 2000, when 66% of US households donated to a charitable organization. That number dropped to 49.6% in 2018, the latest year with comprehensive figures from those households.