Inflation from Bidenomics is the Grinch crimping Giving Tuesday this year, evaporating economic growth and leaving charitable organizations with fewer resources amidst higher needs. Giving Tuesday, is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the United States, a date ranging from November 27 to December 3. It is always five days after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Many charitable nonprofits rely on Giving Tuesday, and the holiday season generally, to keep their organizations operating in the black instead of drowning in red ink. Unfortunately, the red ink watermark is flowing a bit higher these last couple years under the inflation of Bidenomics.
The Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that prices have jumped nearly 18% since Jan 2021, when President Biden took office.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Charities relying on the generosity of Giving Tuesday will need nearly $118 this year to tread water with what they could have bought for $100.
Looking at median CPI, things are even worse than CPI today, with the median average basket of goods—which throws out the tail-end extremes and thus is more accurate—at 5.28% on October 1, is still higher than wages, which increased 4.6% for the 12-month period ending in September 2023.
“Americans now owe $1.08 trillion on their credit cards, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York,” CNBC reported this month. “Steadily, persistently higher prices have caused consumers to spend down their savings and increasingly turn to credit cards to make ends meet …Credit card balances spiked by $154 billion year over year, notching the largest increase since 1999, the New York Fed found.”
With families facing tighter budgets to pay for everyday expenses like food, housing, and transportation, that means they’ll have fewer dollars to spare for charitable giving. This in turn will hurt the charities performing important work as they rely on Giving Tuesday to fit their budgets.
Charitable giving declined in 2022 for only the fourth time in decades. According to the charitable giving research organization Giving USA, total giving fell to $499.3 billion in current dollars, a drop of 10.5% when adjusted for inflation. Americans are the most generous nation, but inflation along with stock market declines eroded funds for charitable giving.
Nonprofit organizations also face the challenge of higher demand for goods and higher costs to deliver those goods and services. Rising prices on housing, food, and transportation mean charitable dollars no longer go as far as they did before inflation took off in 2021.
A national agenda that cuts wasteful spending, streamlines regulation, and rolls back reckless regulatory lawsuits against companies providing value for consumers and small businesses will help tamp down the inflation beast that keeps rearing its ugly head.