Individuals & organisations donated $70bn in cross-border giving globally in 2020
Melanie May | 24 August 2023 | News
$70 billion in cross-border philanthropic giving took place at the height of COVID-19 global health crisis according to new data from the Global Philanthropy Tracker.
The Global Philanthropy Tracker from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy measures cross-border donations from individuals and organisations around the world, using 2020 data from 47 countries at all stages of economic development. This is the latest year for which data is available for most of the countries. It also examines how philanthropy enables and enhances efforts to address complex challenges – from poverty, food insecurity, health, and climate change to racial injustice, and inequality facing women and girls.
The $70 billion (USD) donated in 2020 is, the report says, roughly equivalent to the 73rd largest economy in the world, by 2020 GDP.
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The report also compares cross-border philanthropy to three other cross-border financial resource flows, including official development assistance (ODA), private capital investment, and remittances. The $70 billion in philanthropy represents 8% of total cross-border financial resource flows.
When combined with ODA, remittances, and private capital investment, the total rises to $841 billion. The largest portion of this money comes from the high-income countries, which contributed about 95% of the total amount measured.
Africa was the most supported region among the countries with available data, which has been the case since 2018. Asia also remains a top recipient of cross-border philanthropy. Meanwhile, Europe has seen an increase in the number of countries sending cross-border donations to the continent.
Among the countries with data available on supported charitable causes, education and health were the most supported.
The UK
In the report, the countries and data are grouped by income level as defined by the World Bank‘s measure of gross national income (GNI). It defines the UK as a high income country, with philanthropic outflows (in inflation adjusted 2020 US dollars) of $5,954mn in 2020, and outflows as a share of gross national income of 0.2239%.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.