Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 95% certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

U.S. household philanthropic participation plummeted from a high of 66% to 49%

Rick Shadyak Jr. · How one organization raises billions every year | Masters of Scale · Aug 11, 2025 · at 27:04

Former ALSAC/St. Jude CEO Rick Shadyak Jr. outlines declining participation trends in charitable giving.

0:00 / 0:07exact quote · 7.2s

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“Less and less people are participating in philanthropy. High of 66% down to about 49% of households participating in philanthropy.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

The share of U.S. households participating in philanthropy has declined from a peak of 66% to approximately 49%.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

The claim accurately reflects data from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy's Philanthropy Panel Study (PPS), the most comprehensive longitudinal study of household charitable giving in the United States. According to the school's landmark report published in July 2021 and reinforced by the Generosity Commission in December 2023, the proportion of U.S. households contributing to charity declined from a peak of 66.2% in 2000 to 49.6% in 2018, precisely matching the 66% to approximately 49% range cited.

Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy (Philanthropy Panel Study / PSID) documented that U.S. household charitable participation fell from 66.2% in 2000 to 49.6% in 2018.
The Generosity Commission's December 2023 report confirmed that the share of U.S. households giving to nonprofit organizations declined from 66% in 2000 to 49.6% in 2018.
NBER Working Paper 32592 (June 2024) and subsequent sector studies confirmed a consistent 16-percentage-point drop in general population giving participation over that period.

Checked against

[1] iu.edu [2] newsweek.com [3] thegenerositycommission.org [4] johnsoncenter.org [5] bankofamerica.com [6] nber.org [7] stelter.com [8] nptrust.org

percentage of US households giving to charity peak 66 percent 49.6 percent Lilly Lilly Family School of Philanthropy household giving percentage 66 percent 49 percent Philanthropy Panel Study household charitable giving percentage 66 49 Giving USA household giving participation rate 66 49.6 50

assessed as of 2026-08-27

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households philanthropy

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U.S. household philanthropic participation plummeted from a high of 66% to 49%

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