Giving Tuesday 2021

According to GivingTuesday, the nonprofit behind the annual day of giving, a record-setting $2.7 billion was donated in the U.S. to nonprofits and community organizations on #GivingTuesday 2021, representing a 9% increase from GivingTuesday 2020. This comes as great news overall for the sector still in need of financial support to fund programs and services, particularly those that are community-based.

Charity Navigator experienced a surge in traffic on GivingTuesday 2021. More than 100,000 donors used our ratings and resources to inform their giving, and $1,078,783 was donated through the Charity Navigator Giving Basket to 3,240 nonprofits.

Key Findings

Charity Navigator experienced record-breaking generosity through its Giving Basket on GivingTuesday 2020. However, GivingTuesday 2021 saw a higher average gift of $129.33 through the Giving Basket, which equates to a 30% increase over the previous year. Additionally, Giving Basket donors made an average of 5.14 gifts, up from 4.93 in 2020.

Below are additional data points on traffic and giving activity on Charity Navigator: 

Top 5 supported causes via Charity Navigator’s Giving Basket

• Human Services
• International
• Health
• Animals
• Environment
  
  

Top 5 searched, rated nonprofits on GivingTuesday

• Doctors Without Borders, USA
• Feeding America
• ASPCA
• Save The Children
• ALSAC - St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
  
  

Top 5 states with the most visitors (percent of all visitors noted)

• California (12.22%)
• New York (8.01%)
• Texas (6.71%)
• Florida (5.36%)
• Virginia (5.03%)

Charity Navigator’s Programs

In July 2020, Charity Navigator launched the Encompass Rating System alongside its long-relied upon Star Rating System, increasing the total number of rated nonprofits from 9,000 to over 160,000.  By GivingTuesday 2021, the Encompass Rating System had been moved out of beta and the total number of rated organizations had increased 23% to 196,820, providing donors with more choice.

Visitors to Charity Navigator on GivingTuesday 2021, were also presented with additional performance data of organizational effectiveness in nonprofit ratings. 1,182 nonprofits now have data showcasing programmatic impact on their profile pages (9% increase over GivingTuesday 2020); 13,478 nonprofits have detailed how they listen and act on feedback from their constituents — a staggering 177% increase compared to 2020; and 2,784 nonprofits now have statements about their leadership practices within their profiles, which was unavailable to donors on GivingTuesday in 2020.

Website Statistics

Charitynavigator.org was accessed 126,208 on GivingTuesday. Of the 109,671 visitors, 78.8% were identified as new users to Charity Navigator, which is a 1.5% increase over GivingTuesday 2020. 

Charity Navigator was invited to share giving strategies and trends with top-level media outlets such as CNN, Forbes, and MarketWatch. The Charity Navigator team appeared on several local television and radio stations including FOX 5 New York, PIX 11 New York, and Spectrum News. This led to a 10% increase in total media exposure for GivingTuesday 2021 compared to GivingTuesday 2020.

Conclusion

The team at Charity Navigator is honored that more than 100,000 donors utilized its ratings and resources to inform their giving, with thousands using the Giving Basket to facilitate donations on Giving Tuesday.