High-net-worth donors are heading into 2026 with plans to keep writing checks, even as they brace for a messy economy and contentious politics. A new Foundation Source survey of private foundations and donor-advised fund users found that roughly 93% of affluent donors expect to maintain or increase their giving this year, underscoring how resilient philanthropy has been through recent volatility as AI fortunes are being funneled into philanthropy.

Nearly half of respondents, 49%, said they intend to give more than they did in 2025, while some 46% expect to give about the same amount. Only 6% anticipate cutting back, often because they made unusually large gifts last year or are pausing to reassess strategy. Economic conditions (54%), the political climate (41%), and stock market performance (40%) were cited as the biggest influences on how donors view the broader charitable landscape, even as their own plans remain steady.

“Even amid economic and political uncertainty, today’s high-net-worth donors remain resilient and committed to their philanthropic missions,” said Joseph Mrak III, CEO of Foundation Source. “Their outlook reflects a strategic, long-term mindset focused on meaningful impact and a desire for the next generation to carry their values forward.”

AI Fortunes Being Funneled Into Philanthropy: Anthropic's Founders Pledge to Step Up Their Giving

The Foundation Source findings land as a new cohort of AI billionaires signals a willingness to part with a large share of their fortunes. All seven co-founders of Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI platform, recently pledged to donate 80% of their wealth. Each co-founder’s net worth is estimated in the billions, with those figures poised to grow alongside Anthropic’s soaring valuation.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has warned that the bigger threat to workers may not just be job loss from AI, but “a level of wealth concentration that will break society.” Against that concern, the founders’ pledge could send tens of billions of dollars into philanthropic channels over time.

The company, which this week announced key partnerships with Orion and LPL, has itself already begun to deploy capital. In January, Anthropic announced a $1.5 million, two-year commitment to the Python Software Foundation to fund core infrastructure and new security tooling for the Python Package Index, a critical hub for open-source software. Earlier this month, it pledged $20 million to Public First Action, a new bipartisan nonprofit focused on AI policy, public education, and safeguards around advanced models.

Read the full article about AI fortunes being funneled into philanthropy by Leo Almazora at InvestmentNews.