Which charities are the biggest in America? By private donations, the top of the list is remarkably stable: Feeding America has held the #1 spot for four straight years, followed by product-donation giant Good360 and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. This guide ranks the largest US charities, explains what each one actually does, and shows how to check any charity's finances yourself before giving.
The largest charity in the United States by private donations, a position it has held for four consecutive years on the Forbes list. Feeding America is not a single food bank but a network of about 200 member food banks and tens of thousands of partner pantries that together serve tens of millions of people a year. Most of its donation total is donated food moving through the network rather than cash.
Because the network is local, your gift usually does the most good at a member food bank near you. Our state pages list major members, from the Capital Area Food Bank in Washington to Second Harvest Heartland in Minnesota.
The #2 charity by private donations, with about $3.2 billion in its most recent fiscal year. Good360 works differently from most household names: it takes bulk product donations from companies such as retailers and manufacturers and routes them to a network of local nonprofits, turning excess inventory into aid. Most people never donate to Good360 directly; its scale comes from corporate goods.
The #3 charity by private donations, raising $2.8 billion in the year ending June 30, 2025, up 8 percent. St. Jude treats childhood cancer and other catastrophic diseases, and families never receive a bill for treatment, travel, housing, or food. Its fundraising arm, ALSAC, runs one of the most sophisticated donation operations in the nonprofit world, built heavily on small individual gifts.
The #4 charity by private donations, and one of the few that appears in the top 10 both by donations and by total revenue. United Way is a federation of over a thousand autonomous local United Ways that fund health, education, and financial-stability programs in their own communities, historically through workplace giving campaigns. Your local chapter decides how money is spent; see our profiles of state United Ways such as United Way of Central Maryland and United Way of Metro Chicago.
The #5 charity by private donations, and notable for a 100 percent fundraising-efficiency rating in Forbes' 2025 analysis, meaning essentially every donated dollar reaches programs. Direct Relief provides medical aid, medicines, and disaster response in all 50 states and dozens of countries, and most of its donation total is donated medicine and supplies from pharmaceutical companies.
A fixture of the top tier by both donations and total revenue: Forbes' 2025 analysis places it among the top 10 US charities by total revenue. The Salvation Army is both a church and one of the country's broadest social-service providers, funding shelters, addiction recovery, and disaster relief in nearly every US ZIP code, in large part through its Family Store thrift network. If you are donating goods, see our Salvation Army donation guide and free pickup guide.
#10 on the 2025 Forbes list by private donations, and also a top-10 charity by total revenue. Goodwill's network of independent regional organizations turned donated goods into job training and placement for 2.1 million job seekers in its most recent reporting. Its scale comes from thrift retail: donated clothing and household goods fund employment programs. See what Goodwill accepts and our profiles of regional Goodwills in every state, such as Goodwill of Southeastern Wisconsin, one of the largest in North America.
Among the top 10 US charities by total revenue in Forbes' 2025 analysis. The Y is a federation of hundreds of local associations providing youth development, health programs, housing, and community services; much of its revenue is program fees rather than donations, which is why it ranks higher by revenue than by contributions.
A perennial member of the top tier of US charities, Habitat builds and repairs homes in partnership with families who contribute their own labor and take on affordable mortgages. Its affiliates also run ReStore thrift outlets that accept furniture and building materials. We profile Habitat affiliates in nearly every state, from Atlanta Habitat to Habitat Anchorage.
The top 25 of the Forbes list is filled out by perennial giants including Americares (medical aid), Boys & Girls Clubs of America (youth), Catholic Charities USA (social services), the American Red Cross (disaster and blood), and Save the Children. Rankings shift year to year, but the same names dominate because scale in charity compounds: big networks attract big corporate and individual gifts.
Last updated June 2026. Errors: [email protected]
Two different questions hide inside "largest." Ranked by private support, the list rewards charities that attract donated goods at scale: Feeding America's donated food, Good360's corporate products, Direct Relief's donated medicine. Ranked by total revenue, organizations that charge program fees or receive large government funding, such as the YMCA, Goodwill, and big health systems' charities, climb the table. When you see a "largest charities" list, check which measure it uses; the order changes substantially between the two.
Size is not a substitute for due diligence. A quick, reliable check:
For gifts of goods rather than cash, our guides cover what the Salvation Army accepts, what Goodwill accepts, and how to value donations for taxes.
If you give by cause rather than by size, the biggest names cluster predictably: hunger is led by Feeding America and its member food banks; children's health by St. Jude; disaster and medical aid by Direct Relief, Americares, and the American Red Cross; housing by Habitat for Humanity; job training and thrift by Goodwill, the Salvation Army, and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul; community funding by United Way; and youth development by the YMCA, Boys & Girls Clubs, and Big Brothers Big Sisters. Every one of these has local branches profiled across our state-by-state charity pages.
The top of the list barely changes year to year because scale is self-reinforcing. National networks of local affiliates, such as food banks, thrift stores, and chapters, can absorb enormous in-kind donations that a single-site nonprofit cannot. Corporate donors prefer partners that can move truckloads, and household-name recognition keeps individual gifts flowing. The result: the same ten to fifteen organizations have dominated the American charity rankings for decades, with movement mostly in the middle of the table.