Donation advice:
Monetary donations are normalizing at a good level
The total amount of monetary donations in Germany for 2023 will be around 5 billion euros. photo
© Jens Kalaene/dpa
Inflation affects the willingness of people in Germany to donate. The managing director of the donation council still considers the total amount to be remarkable.
The donations from private individuals Germany fell for the second time in a row. Around 5 billion euros were donated to charitable causes in 2023 – around 700 million euros (12 percent) less than in the previous year, according to the “Balance of Helping” survey commissioned by the German Donations Council, which was presented in Berlin.
The previous high was reached in 2021 at around 5.76 billion euros – it was considered an exceptional year, for example because of the flood in the Ahr Valley. According to the information, the donation income for 2023 corresponds roughly to that of the good donation years 2017 and 2019.
“The normalization of monetary donations to the level of 2017 or 2019 was to be expected in view of the great support services in connection with the Ahrtal disaster and the beginning of the war against Ukraine in 2021 and 2022,” explained Martin Wulff, managing director of the German Donation Council according to the announcement. The inflation of the past two years is also making itself felt. “Many people increasingly had to answer the question of whether they could still afford certain things with a no.” Against this background, the donations are even more remarkable, Wulff was quoted as saying.
Looking ahead to 2024, Wulff said that donation behavior is expected to remain at the 2023 level. This will have an impact on the scope of the important work of all aid organizations. “It will therefore be important for the organizations collecting donations to continue to give donors a transparent and voluntary account of the effectiveness of their projects and to create the greatest possible transparency about the use of the donation income,” explained Wulff. The German Donations Council is a non-profit umbrella organization of 71 non-profit organizations.
The “Balance of Helping” survey was carried out by market researchers at GfK. The information is projections based on monthly self-reports from 10,000 participants. For example, corporate donations, donations to political parties and large donations over 2,500 euros are not taken into account.