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High living costs have caused significant downturn in US charitable giving

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A new survey released Friday shows that the rising cost of living over the last three years has caused many Americans to either give less to charity or to cease giving altogether, the Washington Times reports. Polling 4,928 US adults in May, the survey was conducted by the consumer research company Collage Group.

According to the survey, just 32% of Americans said they never give to charity – but 68% of those polled said: “I don’t think I’ll have any money to donate,” the Times reports.

The poll found that 66% of baby boomers, 70% of Generation X respondents, 69% of millennials and 65% of Generation Z did not feel they had enough money to give to charity.

In a statement to the Washington Times, David Evans, chief insights officer at Collage Group, said that inflation is the key factor in why Americans are giving less to charity. “People are feeling the impact of the higher costs, even though it’s eased up a bit,” Evans said. “Add to that, consumers are also likely still concerned about what the future holds and are being careful with discretionary spending that doesn’t have an obvious impact on them.”

The Giving USA non-profit organization reported last month that US giving to charity dropped by 3.4% to $499.3 billion in 2022, the Times reports.