Video: Where Does $592 Billion in Charity Come From? (US Nonprofit Market, Explained) | wyde.org

How big is American giving, really? Bigger than almost anyone realizes. In a single year, Americans gave about $592 billion to charity. Here's where it comes from: individuals gave about $392 billion, roughly two-thirds of everything. Foundations gave about $110 billion. Gifts left in wills, bequests, added about $46 billion. And corporations gave about $44 billion. Everyday people, not big institutions, are the backbone of giving. But donations are only one slice. Government is one of the largest funders of nonprofits, by many estimates around a third of the sector's total revenue, more than all private giving combined. And the biggest slice of all is what nonprofits earn providing services, like hospitals and universities. Add it all up, and the US nonprofit sector takes in around $3.7 trillion a year. That makes it one of the largest forces in the entire US economy: over 5% of GDP, about 12.5 million jobs, roughly one in ten private-sector workers, and around 1.8 million organizations. By giving, the biggest causes are religion, education, and human services. And yet this enormous, vital market still runs on an old model. Giving is mostly one-time, it's often opaque, and the millions of people who fund it have no real say in how it's run. There's no governance layer for the people behind the money. WYDE is the platform built to change that. WYDE is the Impact Exchange, the rails where a cause can go public, be funded continuously, and be governed by its own members, with everything verifiable. The tool is the cause coin: hold one, and you're a member who helps govern that cause and where its funding goes. Each of those top causes could one day go public on WYDE and be run by the people who care about it. The first cause, $EAT, is already live, for ending hunger. A market this big and this vital deserves modern rails. WYDE is building them. ▶ See the platform built for this market: https://wyde.org ▶ What are cause coins? https://eat.ong ▶ Watch next: "What Are Cause Coins?" + "WYDE: The Impact Exchange" Charitable giving figures are from Giving USA (2024 data): about $592 billion in total private giving, from individuals (~66%), foundations (~19%), bequests (~8%), and corporations (~7%). Total US nonprofit sector revenue is roughly $3.7 trillion annually, over 5% of GDP. Figures are recent annual estimates and update over time. WYDE is the Impact Exchange where causes go public and become member-governed; a cause coin is a governance token, not an investment.