Year-end charitable giving study finding: Nearly 60% of people would rather receive a donation on their behalf than a gift this year

Year-End Charitable Giving in 2021, Fidelity Charitable Study

Our client Fidelity Charitable recently published results from a study we conducted on year-end charitable giving in 2021.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

  • Six in 10 Americans would prefer a donation to charity in their name instead of a gift.
  • Two-thirds of Americans say they participate in charitable activities at year-end, though many will leave it to the last minute.
  • More than 90 percent of charitable investors say they will give the same or more this year compared to 2020.

For more findings, read the overview on Fidelity Charitable’s website, or download the full study as a PDF here.


This is the fifth study we’ve conducted on giving attitudes and behaviors for Fidelity Charitable this year. The first was on the future of philanthropy, the second looked at women and giving, the third assessed COVID’s impact on giving, and the fourth was a study on cryptocurrency and philanthropy.