The problem with generosity is not that it’s no good for our physical wellbeing, or that it’s no good for our emotional and mental health, or that it lowers our sense of happiness, or that it isn’t correlated with living longer.
No, acting generously – even in small ways – does the exact opposite for us.
The problem with generosity is that fewer and fewer people and families are taking advantage of these benefits.
While total charitable giving in terms of dollars given rose again, according to the Giving USA 2025 report just released, a deeper dive into the data shows that total donors continued to decline. From 2023 to 2024, that decline is estimated to be 4.5%. And this decline is on top of years and years of donor decline.
Acting with generosity is not just a nice thing to do for others. It’s essential for the overall health, wellbeing, and connection for all humans. The less we do it – even on modest scales – the more problems we have with ourselves and each other.
The problem with generosity is that more people aren’t doing it.
Perhaps that’s work for us to be doing.
