Ep. 114 - The State of American Philanthropy

Americans are known to be the most generous people in the world, giving to charitable causes at rates that far outstrip our peers in other nations. In 2025, giving totaled more than $600 billion. And that number is driven primarily by individuals. At the same time, federal and state-level laws and regulations sometimes disincentivize philanthropy. Attempts to expose the names of anonymous donors, weaponize the IRS against nonprofits for perceived political bias, and add new strictures around giving threaten to undermine America's privately funded civil society. This episode of Giving Ventures explores the latest charitable giving statistics from Giving USA as well as a new report, the Free to Give Index, a recent publication of the Philanthropy Roundtable. Claudia Cummings serves as senior vice president of public affairs at Philanthropy Roundtable, where her bird's-eye view of the philanthropic landscape gives her a unique perspective to break down the new Giving USA numbers. Matthew Mitchell is a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and co-author with Jack Salmon of the Free to Give Index, which draws on the methods of Fraser's often-cited Economic Freedom Indices.