Total GivingTuesday donations were flat this year, but 10% fewer people participated in the day

abcnews.go.com:

The nonprofit organization GivingTuesday estimates that donors gave $3.1 billion this year on what has become one of the most important fundraising dates for U.S. nonprofits, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving

NEW YORK — Nonprofit organization GivingTuesday estimates that donors gave $3.1 billion this year on what has become one of the most important fundraising days of the year — the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

Donations were up $20 million on Tuesday, a 0.6% increase over last year before adjusting for inflation, the nonprofit said. GivingTuesday makes its estimate by drawing on data from donor management software companies, donation platforms, payment processors and donor-advised funds.

“On the one hand, this is fantastic,” said Woodrow Rosenbaum, GivingTuesday’s chief data officer. “Tens of millions of people in the U.S. came together once again to have a huge impact for causes they care about, including donating an enormous amount of money in a 24 hour period."

But the number of donors was down about 10% from 2022, which Rosenbaum called a worst case scenario for the sector: “We’re seeing less dollars from the big donor that we’ve been relying upon and fewer grassroots donors who are so important to our resilience and long-term health of the sector.”

Nonprofit organizations and industry groups have been warning that donations this year are down, which follows a drop in overall charitable giving in 2022 for only the fourth time in 40 years, according to Giving USA.

It's still too early to know whether end-of-year giving will pull charitable donations back up this year.

Elaine Kenig, chief communications officer at Vanguard Charitable, which hosts donor-advised funds, said about 30% of the total grant dollars donated