by CJ Orr
Chief Executive Officer, Orr Group
This is an update to a piece I first wrote in 2020. Six years later (and after a little less hair on my head), the core thesis still stands. The data behind it has changed, and one new factor has emerged that didn't exist six years ago.
The short answer
Americans gave a record $617.20 billion to charity in 2025, up 5.7% from 2024 (3.0% adjusted for inflation), according to Giving USA 2026. It was the first year total U.S. giving crossed the $600 billion mark(!).
Three of the four forces I flagged back in 2020 are still in motion. One has shifted in an important way. And a fourth factor has emerged that didn't exist when I first wrote this: a new class of philanthropists created almost overnight by 2026's historic wave of IPOs and AI.
Here are the four reasons why now is the best time to launch a capital campaign:
1. Giving is at an all-time high, and it's broad-based
Total charitable giving reached $617.20 billion in 2025, the highest figure ever recorded. Giving to five of the nine tracked nonprofit subsectors (human services, education, health, arts and culture, and environment/animals) hit all-time highs even after adjusting for inflation.
This isn't one donor type carrying the sector. All four major sources grew:
- Individuals: $394.20 billion, up 4.1%
- Foundations: $117.15 billion, up 5.7%
- Bequests: $62.19 billion, up 19.7%(!!)
- Corporations: $43.67 billion, up 3.1%
Growth across every major donor category is the same broad-based pattern that made 2017 to 2018 a breakout period for campaigns. It's just bigger this time.
Of the campaigns that Orr Group managed in 2026, almost all are on track to meet or exceed their goals. I'll talk about it later in the article, but planned giving / blended giving have been core drivers of that success.
2. While the tax picture has changed, charitable contributions remain the best deduction available
In 2020, I argued the post-2017 standard deduction increase pushed high-net-worth donors toward larger, itemized major gifts. That argument needs an update.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed in July 2025 with most charitable provisions taking effect in 2026, cuts in two directions at once.
It expands the donor base at the entry level. Non-itemizers (more than 85% of all taxpayers) can now deduct up to $1,000 (single) or $2,000 (joint) in cash gifts without itemizing. This is the first permanent universal charitable deduction in decades.
It slightly reduces the incentive at the top. Itemizers now face a new 0.5% AGI floor before charitable deductions apply, and the value of itemized deductions is capped at 35% for top-bracket taxpayers, down from the full 37% benefit they had previously.
The practical implication for campaigns: don't lead a major gift conversation with tax savings, but recognize that tax savings are still important in major gift decisions.
Lead with legacy, naming opportunities, and mission impact. Treat tax efficiency (gift bunching, donor-advised funds, qualified charitable distributions from IRAs) as a tool your gift planning team introduces once the donor is committed, not as the headline reason to give.
I am without a doubt not a tax expert. This is general information, not tax advice. Donors and their advisors should confirm current rules with a tax professional before finalizing gift structures.
3. The wealth transfer isn't a forecast anymore; the data has confirmed we're in it!
In 2020, I cited Cerulli Associates' projected $68 trillion generational wealth transfer as a future opportunity. It's no longer future. It's visible in this year's data.
Giving by bequest reached $62.19 billion in 2025, up 19.7% from 2024 (16.6% adjusted for inflation). That was the largest increase of any of the four giving sources, by a wide margin. Compare it to individual giving's 4.1% growth or corporate giving's 3.1%.
The federal estate and gift tax exemption also rose to $15 million per individual ($30 million for married couples) for 2026 under OBBBA, meaning the overwhelming majority of estates now avoid federal estate tax entirely.
That doesn't reduce the amount of wealth changing hands. It means more of it moves directly to heirs and to the causes donors choose, rather than being routed through estate tax planning.
For campaigns, that makes planned giving conversations, blended gifts, and legacy society engagement more urgent, not less. If you combine individual and bequest giving, individuals accounted for roughly 74% of every charitable dollar given in 2025.
As I mentioned above, using planned giving or estate planning in campaigns has yielded exceptional outcomes. What was once a one-time cash gift is now a cash + planned, multi-year gift that gets you access to a much larger ask.
4. A third wave of philanthropists is arriving through IPOs and AI wealth
This is the factor that didn't exist in 2020, and it's worth naming directly. We've been learning about this third wave of philanthropy from this article: https://nanransohoff.substack.com/p/the-third-wave-of-american-philanthropy
In the article, it mainly talks about the wave of philanthropy from AI companies. I'd go further and say that it's also a wave of other IPOs that might be AI-adjacent. SpaceX completed the largest IPO in history in June 2026, pricing at $135 per share and reaching a valuation above $1.7 trillion on its trading debut. That single event created enormous new liquid wealth among employees, early investors, and executives who previously held illiquid private equity.
SpaceX wasn't alone. Reporting through 2026 indicated other major private technology companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic, were weighing public listings — part of a broader wave converting private paper wealth into liquid capital.
This matters for campaigns because newly liquid wealth does not automatically become philanthropic capital. It has to be cultivated.
Donors from this cohort are frequently first-generation major givers. Many have no established family foundation, no existing donor-advised fund, and no prior relationship with a gift officer at any institution. Their giving patterns, advisor relationships, and cause affinities are still forming.
Nonprofits and campaign counsel who build relationships with this emerging donor class early, before those patterns lock in, have a real first-mover advantage. It's the same dynamic I flagged with Baby Boomer wealth transfer in 2020, on a faster timeline and with a different generation of wealth.
What the record number obscures
One honest caveat, because the headline figure hides a real risk.
Adjusted for inflation, individual giving in 2025 ($394.20 billion) remains roughly 15% below its 2021 peak of $464.12 billion, and is essentially flat against 2017. Individual giving as a share of disposable personal income fell to 1.7% in 2025, down from 2.4% in both 2000 and 2005.
In other words: total dollars are at a record, but a growing share of those dollars comes from a narrowing set of large estates, foundations, and mega-gifts, while the everyday donor base contracts.
For campaign planning, that means two things. The capacity for transformational gifts has never been higher, which is precisely why campaigns work right now. But organizations relying on broad annual giving to sustain operations between campaigns face real headwinds. A campaign strategy built only on the top of the pyramid is fragile. Fundraising in campaigns from both sections of the pyramid is our advice.
What this means for your campaign
Four forces are compounding at once:
- Record total giving, at an all-time high across every major source
- A tax code that now rewards broad participation more than it once rewarded major gifts specifically
- A wealth transfer that is actively happening rather than projected
- A new cohort of donors created almost overnight by 2026's IPO/AI wave
Organizations that move now, with a blended-gift strategy pairing outright cash with planned and legacy commitments, are positioned to capture a moment that will not look the same in five years.
Frequently asked questions
Is now a good time to launch a capital campaign? The data supports it. Total U.S. giving reached a record $617.20 billion in 2025, crossing $600 billion for the first time. Growth was broad-based across individual, foundation, corporate, and bequest giving, and bequest giving grew nearly five times faster than any other source.
Did tax law changes in 2026 make charitable giving less attractive for major donors? Not less attractive overall, but some shifts. The 2026 OBBBA rules introduced a 0.5% AGI floor and a 35% deduction cap for top-bracket itemizers, modestly reducing the tax benefit of very large single gifts. At the same time, a new universal deduction extended tax benefits to non-itemizing donors for the first time since pandemic-era rules expired.
Why is bequest giving growing so much faster than other giving sources? Giving by bequest grew 19.7% in 2025, compared with 4.1% for individual giving and 3.1% for corporate giving. This reflects the ongoing generational wealth transfer as Baby Boomers pass on accumulated assets, which is a trend now appearing directly in the data rather than as a forward-looking projection.
How should nonprofits approach donors who became wealthy through 2026's IPO/AI wave? Treat them as a distinct cultivation priority. Many newly liquid donors from listings like SpaceX's June 2026 IPO have no established foundation, donor-advised fund, or gift officer relationship yet. Organizations that build these relationships before giving patterns are set gain a durable advantage.
Is the record giving total good news for all nonprofits? Not uniformly. While total dollars hit a record, inflation-adjusted individual giving remains below its 2021 peak, and giving as a share of disposable personal income declined to 1.7%. Growth is increasingly concentrated in large estates, foundations, and mega-gifts, which favors campaign-style fundraising over broad annual giving.
Having served as a trusted partner to clients for over 10 years, CJ Orr has broad experience in fundraising and development, executive leadership, strategic planning, campaigns, and event management. He has launched funds, designed and led strategic initiatives, and driven fundraising for large galas and campaigns ranging from $10M to $1B+ in revenue. As an expert project and relationship manager, he executes on the development of strategies and tactics to drive effective fundraising plans that meet or exceed targets. Internally, CJ is responsible for setting and driving achievement of Orr Group’s financial targets and overseeing efficient operations within the firm. Additionally, CJ supports the efforts of Orr Group’s Growth team to identify and cultivate new business opportunities and build relationships with nonprofit partners, ensuring that the services offered are best aligned with our partners’ needs. CJ’s background in finance provides him with a strong foundation in analytics, metrics and ROI.
