Is society becoming more generous, less generous or staying about the same?

Research in A New Era of Giving—our latest release in The State of Generosityseries—explores generations’ perceptions of generosity and offers a glimpse at emerging giving trends among Millennials and Gen Z.

Roughly 3 in 10 Gen Z & Millennials Feel Young Adults Are More Generous than Their Elders The plurality of U.S. adults across the generations thinks collective societal generosity is remaining consistent. Only a minority of adults, no matter which age cohort they belong to, believe society is becoming more generous. This sentiment may stem from tempered expectations about how the baton of generosity is being taken up by young people.

Boomers are the biggest cynics, with more than half (53%) saying younger generations are less generous than older generations. Elders and Gen X, though slightly less pessimistic, also lean toward a negative view of young adults’ generosity. The greatest optimism appears among young adults themselves; more than one in three Gen Z (35%) and 29 percent of Millennials feel young adults are more generous than their elders.