Generosity comes more easily to some than to others, and few should be more willing to share their wealth with the less fortunate than those with more than they could possibly need. As a class, U.S. billionaires stand out as uniquely positioned to give away vast sums of money for causes they consider worthy.
Just as admirable, and perhaps even more so, are Americans of more modest means who nonetheless feel compelled to give charitably to others. Owing to the public-spiritedness of its citizens, our nation deserves appropriate recognition as America the Beneficent.
A philanthropic drive called the Giving Pledge, started in 2010 by the ultra-wealthy Bill Gates, his then-wife Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett, has prompted 194 fellow U.S. billionaires — and 62 others around the world — to pledge at least half of their assets to charity during their lifetimes or in their estates, according to a recent study by the progressive Institute for Policy Studies.
Promises are easier to make than to keep, of course. The Institute reports with indignation that 15 years after the Giving Pledge debuted, 110 U.S. signers remain filthy rich. “Three quarters of the original U.S. Giving Pledgers who are still alive remain billionaires today, and they have collectively gotten far wealthier since they signed, while just eight of 22 deceased Pledgers fulfilled their pledges.” In other words, enough is never enough.
Digging Deep
Outside the gilded environs of the fabulously wealthy, regular Americans also demonstrate world-class generosity — with or without the benefit of due gratitude. In 2024, Americans gave away $592.5 billion to others, according to the annual report from the Giving USA Foundation. Two-thirds of it — $392.4 billion – came from individual Americans who reached into their own pockets to help those they felt needed the cash more than themselves.
Among the beneficiaries of the treasure are religious institutions, bringing in a total of $146.5 billion. That should come as little surprise, as there are few souls on Earth who have not heard that “it is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Corporations chipped in another $44.4 billion. Surely those billions were gratefully accepted, but corporate generosity that involves giving away someone else’s money (read: shareholders’) must measure slightly lower on the sacrifice gauge.
Giving All
It should come as no surprise that in CEOWorld magazine’s Global Giving Index, the U.S. ranks No. 1 overall. The rankings are based on the size of monetary donations, the tendency to help strangers, and time spent performing volunteer service.
To be fair, other indices employ varying metrics to award the top spot to other nations. The World Population Review, for example, names Indonesia as 2025’s most generous country, where 90% of adults donate money to charity; the U.S. is sixth. In terms of actual dollars donated, though, Americans are unsurpassed.
Moreover, the act of giving extends far beyond the simple act of handing over cash. More than 130,000 American service personnel lie buried in foreign soil, having made the ultimate sacrifice while defending freedom in past wars. No disrespect intended, but how many soldiers from other nations have given their last measure of devotion on a battlefield halfway around the world, never to return home to their loved ones?
Sadly, some contend that Americans’ habit of giving, living, and dying for the sake of others cannot redeem the nation’s perceived faults. Among them is Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota).“ For the Somali immigrant, the June parade in the nation’s capital commemorating the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary was cause for a venomous retort: “I grew up in a dictatorship, and I don’t even remember ever witnessing anything like that. To have a democracy, a beacon of hope for the world to now be turned into one of the, you know, one of the worst countries.”
Also worth noting on the subject of charity is a misperception that reinforces the repulsive phenomenon of rampant antisemitism. A common libel, inflamed by the ongoing Hamas-Israel war, is that Jews are notoriously inhumane. Their munificence says otherwise.
A 2023 meta-analysis of 21 reports on U.S. philanthropy found that the most charitable of all religious Americans are not Catholics, Protestants or Muslims – as public-minded as they are. Rather, it is those who practitice Judaism: Their average annual philanthropic contributions top all others at $2,526. That’s something for rabid critics of the ancient Jewish homeland to ponder when they feel the urge to take to the streets and chant “from the river to the sea.”
Progressives may denounce the ultra-rich who only donate billions rather than every dollar down to their last. They may also rail against a republic that sacrifices its young people so that others might be saved, and against an ancient faith that defies fault-finders with its charity. It is everyday citizens, though, undeterred in practicing generosity, who deserve the most credit in earning their homeland the apt label of America the Beneficent.
Frank Perley is a former senior editor and editorial writer for Opinion at The Washington Times.
