Global Philanthropy Environment Index

Highlights

Covering the period between January 2018 and December 2020, the Index evaluates 91 countries and economies across six key factors that measure the ease with which philanthropic organizations can operate, rules and regulations that affect giving—both within countries and across borders, policies and practices with which governments can promote or hinder philanthropy, economic conditions and stability that affect the development of philanthropy, and values and traditions that provide enabling conditions for both formal and informal philanthropy. This includes in-depth research on the incentives and barriers that individuals, businesses, and other organizations face when donating to social causes or institutions within a certain economy or abroad.

More than three-fifths (62%) of the 91 economies reported a favorable philanthropic environment (with a score of 3.50 or above) in 2018-2020. Of the 91 economies, more than a quarter (26%) had a highly favorable (13%) or favorable (13%) philanthropic environment (scored 4.0 or above), 36 percent had a moderately favorable environment (scored between 3.50 and 3.99), and the remaining 38 percent scored below 3.50, indicating a restrictive environment.

Una Osili

In order to support global philanthropy amid complex global crises, we need tools to help us understand where it’s thriving, where it isn’t, and why. GPEI provides us with this one-of-a-kind roadmap for making philanthropy more effective in our response to global challenges, but that ultimately requires that policymakers act on the insights and learnings GPEI provides.  

Una Osili, Ph.D., Efroymson Chair in Philanthropy and Associate Dean for Research and International Programs