By Patrick F. Cannon
Proving once again that we’re the most generous people on earth, charitable giving in the United States totaled an estimated $592.5 billion in 2024. Adjusted to inflation, this was a 3.3% increase over 2023.
A strong economy and stock market no doubt contributed to an eight percent increase in individual giving, and a corporate increase of nine percent. Religious giving declined slightly, although that category remains the largest at about 25% of the total. For example, Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Chicago raised $42 million last year.
Of course, the total doesn’t include the dollar bills we hand to folks at street corners, or (for me at least) at the entry to the local Jewel food store. I keep loose dollar bills in my car’s center console for this purpose. Some people think these folks just use the money to buy booze or drugs. Maybe some do, but I don’t worry about it.
In most years, I give about 10% of my income to various causes and organizations. I suppose it’s a variation on the religious practice of tithing. Most people probably do much the same, or even more. On the other hand, many of our new tech billionaires (and some of our old real estate developers) seem loathe to give much away. If they did, that $592.5 billion figure would easily reach a trillion dollars.
Bill Gates is a good example of an older techie who is now giving back. The legendary Warren Buffet intends to give most of his fortune away. There are plenty of historical precedents. Those of us originally from the Pittsburgh area will know the name Carnegie very well indeed. Before he sold them all to J.P. Morgan, almost all the steel mills in the Pittsburg area were part of the Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corporation (as were the mills in Gary, Indiana, and Chicago). But even before he sold out, he began to endow the creation of public libraries. The first one was in his home country of Scotland. The first of nearly 1,700 in this country was in my birthplace, Braddock, Pennsylvania. It’s still there, although not much of the rest of the town is.
The Carnegie name is also on many Pittsburgh’s museums – Art, Natural History, Science, and even the Andy Warhol. Then, of course, there’s the world-famous Carnegie-Mellon University, which brings up the Mellon family of Mellon Bank fame. Among their may contributions is the National Gallery in Washington. Heinz gave the world its best ketchup, but to Pittsburgh they also gave Heinz Hall and the Heinz History Center.
Let’s not forget the Rockefellers, Fords, Fields, Guggenheims, Rosenwalds, and many, many more. Some are now characterized as “robber barons.” In our “enlightened” times, we see them as greedy exploiters of their workers. Let’s face it, they weren’t unique in this, just more successful. And unbelievably, they tended to be highly religious. Carnegie was a stern and pious Presbyterian; and Rockefeller a Baptist who help found the University of Chicago and paid for its Rockefeller Chapel; and for the Riverside Church in Manhattan.
In the Chicago area, I’m a member of and minor donor to many cultural organizations, but their very founding and continued existence has and continues to depend on the financial support of people with serious wealth. For example, my fellow Northwestern University alum Pat Ryan is funding its new Stadium, but he and his wife Shirley have done so much more. For example, their Shirley Ryan Ability Lab in Chicago is the world’s leading rehabilitation facility.
So, who knows? Maybe the current iterations of the “robber barons,” including the current occupant, who is determined to make he and his pals even richer, will decide to give some of it away. I’m not holding my breath though.
Copyright 2025, Patrick F. Cannon
cannonnadedotcom 
Charitable giving is such a great American cultural tradition, not common in other countries. We give a little more than 10% annually to charitable causes (environment, education, organizations that directly help folks that need it).
I’m sure a lot of people do the same. They’re not necessarily affluent. When I used to collect for Lions Candy Day at the River Forest Jewel, the most generous were often people who lived west of First Avenue. They weren’t well off financially. The ones who were drove off in BMWs and Benzes, and hardly gave me a look.
The beauty of charity is that it’s voluntary, the opposite of taxes. Sure, you can open your heart and deduct for tax purposes goods like the discarded underwear Bill Clinton gave to the Salvation Army, but I like to think Americans give because they like to do it, even if there may be a tax benefit. Better that the money go to a charity than vanish in the coffers of Our Bureaucracy.
Among wealthy benefactors, Carnegie stands out. Even Mayberry has one of his handsome libraries (it now houses the history museum). Indiana has several billionaires who give, including Rooney who owns the Steelers, the Cook family, Jim Irsay who died recently and owned the Colts, Simon of shopping mall fame (he owns the Pacers and Fever), and a few others. It’s good to have billionaires, contrary to the view of New York’s latest celebrity socialist.
I don’t know what Musk does with his dough. Pay a ton of alimony and child support, I guess. Good for him! Trump is no model philanthropist — his donations seem to benefit his interests in some way — but it’s his money, not the public’s. He does donate his $400,000 salary which in the space of a term would be $1.6 million, not chicken feed. The envy-green, mean-spirited, buttinsky press, however, seems intent on portraying him as a heartless scrooge. Bah humbug!
Progressive liberals (is it democratic socialists or social democrats now?) are great givers…….of the public’s money, other people’s money, which they reason is rightfully theirs to dispense, in their judgment, for the common good. Their generosity seems unbounded, and they always want to do more. From each according to his/her/their ability, to each according to his/her/their need, they say, just as long as they get to exercise their right to do the distributing.
Scrooge Trump understands money and where it comes from, as maybe only a billionaire does. When he’s not diving into pools of gold coins, at least he seems to favor letting working people keep more of the dollars they’ve earned, even tips, to spend as they wish. And a fine favor it is! That’s a generosity rare in politicians, but an outrage for those on the left. It’s unfair, they cry, a form of theft!
His oddly controversial tariffs, which help keep China in check and the Europeans reminded of their obligations, have brought in nearly $100 billion this year so far. That’s $100 billion the citizenry won’t have to pay now that they voted the Dems out of office.
But it’s inflationary, shout the Dems, forgetting it was their last administration that caused the current inflation. They couldn’t stop giving money away, even when they didn’t have it.
Did they think they were billionaires?
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And he got his BBB. As usual, time will tell.
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And the DDD (Deranged Democrat Distortions) have begun. You should have heard the woman on NPR this morning. The fact checkers are on vacation.
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Do you listen to NPR as a form of torture? Anyway, looking at the bill, I suspect it will have little effect on folks like us. The uber rich will, of course, be delighted. And I expect more smiles from the wait staff when next I dine out!
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