The field of philanthropic studies is growing. According to a recent estimate by David Horton Smith, taking a broad perspective of ‘altruistics’, about 8,000 researchers are active. In ‘A Brief History of Research on Philanthropy‘, one of the products of the literature review that forms the core of this website, the growth of research on philanthropy and its dispersion over academic disciplines is described. Here is a key figure from that paper.
Also the prevalence of ‘philanthropy’ in Google Books is increasing again since 1984.
The term ‘charitable giving’, though less prevalent than philanthropy, shows a steady increase since 1974.
Understanding Philanthropy 
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