Times of crisis in particular induce people to donate money: According to a survey by the Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (GfK), Germans donated around 3.8 billion euros to charitable organizations or churches from January to September 2021 - by far the highest result since the survey began in 2005. The high level of willingness is mainly due to the flood disaster in July. Max Mälzer, managing director of the German Donation Council, speaks of "fantastic evidence of the solidarity of the Germans, even in very difficult times".

A total of 16.8 million Germans donated this year, an increase of eight percent compared to the same period last year. In the past few years, however, the number of donors has steadily declined. The average amount per donation also reached a high of 40 euros and contributed to the positive development of the total donation volume: Compared to the same period in the previous year, it increased by 14 percent.

The increased willingness to donate runs through almost all age groups.

The number of donors has only decreased in the 40 to 49 age group.

"I find it very gratifying that the younger generation has shown significant growth in donation income," says Bianca Corcoran from GfK.

The generation of over-70s continues to donate the most: "The age group is extremely important and even donated even more on average in 2021." Their share of the total donation volume rose from 43.2 to 44.5 percent and their average Donation volume from 288 euros to 315 euros.

Large sums of money for emergency and disaster relief

The largest share of donations went to humanitarian aid again this year (78.5 percent). In emergency and disaster relief, the incoming donations have more than doubled compared to the previous year and are therefore decisive for the overall strong result. According to Mälzer, the flood disaster in summer is probably the reason for the high increase. There was a particularly high volume of donations in July, August and September. In addition, local and national projects were given more support with 66 percent of the donation volume.

Although the figures from this year show an overall positive development, a clear decline in donations can be seen in some areas.

"The donations for refugees are suffering a lot this year," said Corcoran.

The volume of donations fell by a full 30 percent compared to the previous year, from 297 to 207 million euros.

There was also a considerable loss in sport and in the preservation of culture and monuments.

Positive results are again evident in animal welfare, with an increase of 9 million euros and environmental and nature protection with 10 million euros more than in the previous year.

Not only did the average donation go up in this area, according to the survey, many new donors were also acquired.

It is questionable whether the positive trend will continue.

Bianca Corcoran from GfK points out that it is possible that not every new donor who gave money for the first time during the flood disaster will continue to donate regularly in the future.

However, one can be pleased about this year's figures for the time being, and the forecast for the donation year 2021 is also positive: a total of 5.8 billion euros is expected.