Only 0.16% of all charitable donations within the U.S. support LGBTQ+ groups, despite recent increases

In a time that’s characterised by each significant progress and setbacks For LGBTQ+ people, donations to LGBTQ+ organizations have greater than doubled within the last 10 years.

Despite this rapid growth, these donations still represent only 0.16% of total charitable giving within the U.S., in line with the magazine's latest issue LGBTQ+ Indexdeveloped by Indiana University's Lilly Family School of Philanthropy Equitable Giving Laboratory. Put one other way, lower than $1 in every $500 donated in 2021, probably the most recent 12 months for which data is offered, went to support LGBTQ+ organizations.

We are among the many Researcher who create this index by analyzing data that the Internal Revenue Service collects about nonprofit organizations.

The share of charitable dollars funding LGBTQ+ organizations, adjusted for inflation, increased from $387 million in 2012 to $823 million in 2021. The pace of this growth was particularly rapid in 2020 and 2021, with a rise of 35 % in only two years.

Gifts are usually not distributed equally

The share of total charitable donations to LGBTQ+ organizations also increased, rising from 0.10% in 2012 to 0.16% in 2021, continuing to lag far behind funding for other varieties of causes.

For example, the charitable donations received by Johns Hopkins University and World Vision in 2021 exceeded the whole of all donations to LGBTQ+ organizations.

Donations to women's and girls' organizations in 2021 included 1.9% of total charitable donations – Although still a comparatively small portion of all charitable donations, that is greater than twelve times the sum of money donors gave to LGBTQ+ organizations in the identical 12 months.

In contrast, social service nonprofits similar to food banks and homeless shelters received greater than $90 billion in philanthropic support in 2021 – greater than 100 times the quantity donors gave to LGBTQ+ nonprofits.

The LGBTQ+ Index also highlights changes within the distribution of donations across various kinds of groups on this category.

Civil rights organizations, the biggest category, received greater than half of all donations to LGBTQ+ organizations in 2021.

Several other areas, similar to youth services, community centers and transgender-focused groups, have seen significant growth in recent times. For example, donations to transgender organizations increased 629% from 2012 to 2021.

However, this didn’t occur across the board. Funding for organizations addressing HIV/AIDS within the LGBTQ+ community has increased by just 7% over the last decade, leading to a decline within the share of total LGBTQ+ donations.

Assets are also rising

These findings highlight each the progress that LGBTQ+ communities have made and the continued challenges they face.

While raising awareness of the challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community, similar to: Mental health of young people And Anti-transgender legislative effortshave helped increase donations, the general funding available to LGBTQ+ nonprofits stays limited.

Smaller organizations particularly face significant obstacles to growth, similar to: B. Lack of unconditional financing and limited capability to expand their operations.

Separately, we found that the whole value of assets held by these groups in emergency funds or endowments has increased by 257% during the last decade. This increase in wealth signals that donors have greater trust in LGBTQ+ groups and that organizations have gotten more established and skilled. It also signals that there may be potential for further growth.