American Giving Index: The Generation Americans Rank Least Generous Is Bringing the Most New Donors In

Q2 Benchmark from Tiltify Catalyst Holds at 62 as Donors Under 30 Recruit Others at Nearly Three Times the Rate of Boomers

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Americans rank Gen Z as the least generous generation. But according to the Q2 2026 American Giving Index released today by Tiltify Catalyst, the nonprofit fundraising platform from Tiltify, Gen Z donors are doing more than any other generation to bring new people into giving.

Nine in 10 donors under 30 took some action in the past year to bring someone else into a cause, compared with about a third of donors 62 and older. And 44% of younger donors say they are more motivated to give than they were a year ago, compared with just 4% of the oldest donors.

The Index, a quarterly benchmark of the health of institutional philanthropy in the United States, held at 62 out of 100, unchanged from its inaugural reading.

That overall number obscures a generational split. Younger donors are more likely to discover causes on social media, participate before they give and ask friends to join them. Older donors are more likely to give through established charities and are far less likely to recruit someone else. The groups are nearly identical when it comes to trust in charities and how much they give.

"Gen Z gets the least credit for generosity, yet these are the donors most likely to ask someone else to give," said Michael Wasserman, CEO of Tiltify. "If you're running a nonprofit, that should get your attention. Someone who brings five friends into a cause is doing something valuable that won't show up in the size of their own donation. We spend a lot of time asking how to reach new donors. We should be doing more to support the people already making those introductions."

The Index is based on a national survey of 1,000 U.S. donors conducted in July 2026, quota-balanced at 250 respondents per generation across ages 18 to 80. All respondents reported giving money or time to a charitable cause in the past two years. The Index measures four dimensions of institutional philanthropy: Impact Confidence, Financial Capacity, Institutional Trust, and Engagement & Activation.

Key findings from the Q2 2026 American Giving Index include:

Younger donors recruit. Older donors don't. In the past 12 months, 55% of Gen Z donors personally asked friends or family to give, 58% shared or promoted a fundraiser, and 16% ran a fundraiser of their own. Among Boomers, those figures were 20%, 16% and 3%, respectively. When asked which generation is most generous, respondents selected Gen Z just 176 times out of 1,000.

For most donors, the check comes later. More than half of all donors (52%) took part in a cause through volunteering, attending, sharing or advocacy before giving money. That rose to 60% among Gen Z. Just 40% of Gen Z donors gave money first, compared with 56% of Boomers. Social media is also becoming a bigger entry point: 48% of donors under 30 now discover causes by scrolling social media, up from 36% in February.

Trust in charities remains high, but donors are questioning the platforms in between. Eighty-nine percent of donors trust charities to use their money as intended. But 25% did not know that some "free" giving platforms add a pre-selected tip for themselves, often 15% to 20%, and 17% did not know donations are sometimes routed through third-party funds. Nearly a quarter of donors have avoided a platform because of tips, and older donors are the most likely to walk: 39% of Boomers have avoided a platform over tips, compared with 12% of Gen Z.

Affordability remains the biggest barrier to giving more. Fifty-two percent of donors cite their own finances as the main reason they do not give more, unchanged from Q1. Younger donors are also navigating financial pressure differently. Forty percent of donors under 30 say milestones such as buying a home feel out of reach and that they direct what remains after essentials toward causes instead, compared with 17% of donors 62 and older.

Creator campaigns are bringing new people into causes. Twenty-eight percent of donors gave during a creator campaign in the past year, and 67% of those donors supported a cause they had no prior interest in. Half of Gen Z donors gave through a creator, compared with 5% of Boomers.

The full Q2 2026 American Giving Index, including generational cuts and methodology, is available at https://tiltifycatalyst.com/resources/the-american-giving-index-q2-2026

About Tiltify Catalyst
Tiltify Catalyst is the community-driven fundraising platform built for how people live and give today. As donor participation declines across traditional channels, Catalyst helps nonprofits activate a new generation of fundraisers and reach supporters through their networks.

Built on the same engagement principles that power creator-led fundraising, Catalyst helps nonprofits expand beyond their existing donor base, increase participation, and modernize their peer-to-peer programs. Supporters raise more when fundraising becomes interactive — using tools like rewards, polls, and milestones across any campaign type, from individual livestreams to large-scale fitness events.

Catalyst also publishes the American Giving Index, a quarterly benchmark tracking the evolving behavior of donors and the future of philanthropy. Learn more at tiltifycatalyst.com.

Media Contact:
John Eidson
Beantown Media Ventures
[email protected]

SOURCE Tiltify