Giving in Pandemic Times

 Erica Pandey at Axios:

2020 saw a surge in charitable giving, and 2021 could top it.

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What's happening: Americans donated $2.7 billion on Giving Tuesday this year — a 9% jump from last year.

• Overall, Americans donated $471 billion in 2020, up 5% from 2019. 2021 is still in the middle of its giving season — in fact, Dec. 31st is one of the most popular giving days of the year, says Osili.
• More of the super-wealthy are pledging to give away their billions. Two of 2020's biggest donors were MacKenzie Scott, who was married to Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.
• And more rich people signed the Giving Pledge in 2021 — including DoorDash founder Tony Xu and Pinterest founder Ben Silbermann — promising to give away the majority of their wealth, the Wall Street Journal reports.

It’s not just individuals. Companies are also joining the giving trend, Yahoo Finance reports.

• Madewell, the clothing retailer, will match and triple any donation made to No Kid Hungry through its platform — up to $100,000 — until the end of the year.
• Our Place, the kitchenware brand, will donate 10 meals to Feeding America for every purchase.
• The home goods company Brooklinen is taking advantage of holiday returns and giving returned products to domestic violence shelters around the country.