5 takeaways about rich, charitable donors

There’s good news from a presentation at the Community Foundation in a tough year for nonprofits.

In a time of eroding confidence, affluent Americans ranked nonprofits as the organizations they most trust to solve problems, a new study found.

That was a message from philanthropic giving expert Dianne Chipps Bailey of Bank of America last week at the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties in West Palm Beach.

Bailey presented the findings of the “2025 Bank of America Study of Philanthropy: Charitable Giving by Affluent Households” produced with the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

Survey participants ranked nonprofit organizations (20%) above individuals (17%), rising generations (16%) and religious institutions (11%) as having the most ability to solve problems, researchers said.

“Nonprofits should really own that,” Bailey said. “Own that in terms of celebrating your impact.”

Here are five more takeaways:

1. Dollars are up. Donors are down. In 2006, 98 percent of affluent people contributed to charity. While the total amount has inched up every year, the most recent survey found just 81 percent give now.

The good news: That’s still more than four in five.

2. Women are more likely to be donors. The future of philanthropy is female, and the future is now, Bailey said. Women make or influence 85% of giving decisions, the study found.

“If you have a male partner, women are, on average, two years younger than their male partner, and they live on average five to seven years longer,” she said. “So there’s a good decade in there, almost, where the woman is going to be making those ultimate decisions, in particular around planned giving, which is a huge opportunity.”

Research from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute on life satisfaction and giving found that when women give more, they’re more joyful in their giving.

3. It’s all about the giver.

“Fundraising is not sales. It’s matchmaking. It’s understanding their values, their interests, their experiences, and then matching it with the case for support for your organization,” Bailey said. “If there is not alignment, bless and release.”

Donors are looking for ways to make an outsize impact, she noted. “Donors don’t want to bail boats. They want to sail ships.”

4. The Great Wealth Transfer is now.

In the Great Wealth Transfer, a generational transfer of $124 trillion over the next 25 years, Bailey said an estimated $18 trillion is already earmarked for nonprofit organizations, including private foundations and donor-advised funds.  

“But a lot of that is going to go to operating charities,” she said. “And it’s already happening.”

To put the incoming $18 trillion in context, Bailey said that $8 trillion is the highest estimate she has seen of assets in the philanthropic sector today. “It’s going to be seismic,” she said.

5. The secret of volunteering.

Affluent volunteers are giving 2.5 times as much as their peers who don’t volunteer, the study found. 

Yes, but: Many nonprofits have quietly dismantled volunteer programs, Bailey said.

After hitting a low of 30 percent during the peak of COVID in 2020, affluent Americans have embraced volunteering with renewed enthusiasm, the study said. In 2024, 43 percent volunteered for charitable organizations — up from 37 percent in 2022, the report found.

An opportunity for nonprofits in the data is that people are much more likely to volunteer with their families.

In the weeds: The 2025 study surveyed 1,514 U.S. households with a net worth of more than $1 million (excluding primary residence) and/or annual household income of $200,000 or more. Respondents reported an average net worth of $24.2 million (median $2 million) and an average income of $571,876 (median $350,000).

Learn more: The full report is here.