Survey Finds Overwhelming Majority of US Adults Has Contributed to Charity in Past Year
Tuesday, 02 January 2007
According to a new Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive Personal Finance Poll, an overwhelming majority (83 percent) of US adults say they have contributed to a charity in the past 12 months, with about one-third of adults saying they contributed to religious, hunger and food-related, or health and disease-related charities each in the past year. The average total giving among those making contributions in the past 12 months fell to $1,220 from $1,352 in 2005.
These are some of the results of an online survey of 2,939 US adults conducted by Harris Interactive® between December 4 and 6, 2006 for The Wall Street Journal Online. A downloadable PDF version of The Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive Personal Finance Poll is posted at http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/newsletters_wsjfinance.asp.
Disaster relief charities have seen a marked decrease in contribution compared to a year ago (49% in 2005 vs. 27 percent in 2006), while homeless, health-based, hunger and animal charities have witnessed an increase in contributions over the past year.
According to Natalie Jobity, vice president of Financial Services Research for Harris Interactive, "The drop in disaster relief giving in 2006 is not surprising. In 2005, this was the number one crisis facing the nation and the media exposure given to Hurricane Katrina and subsequent relief efforts had a major impact on the public’s support to related charities. It is understandable that this year funds to charities were allocated to other causes and there was less focus on disaster relief."
What Motivates Charitable Giving?
When asked about their top three motivating factors, three in four (76 percent) adults say they contribute to charities because they think it’s the right thing to do, and those with household incomes of $75,000 or more are most likely to share this opinion (84 percent).
Slightly over half (52 percent) of adults say they are motivated to make contributions because they believe it will make an impact, while few view employer encouragement (6 percent), media attention (2 percent) and pressure at fundraisers (2 percent) as being strong motivators for contributing.
Over one in four (26 percent) of those making over $75,000 per year are motivated because of the tax write-offs (compared to 15 percent of total).
"Interestingly, the public does not see the media as a motivator even though it certainly plays a huge role in creating awareness for a given cause,” Jobity said. “Because respondents were directed to pick only their top three motivators, this explains why the media percentage is unusually low, despite the key role it plays in bringing issues to the public’s attention.”
Employment and Age Differences
Retirees are much more likely to have contributed to charities on the whole (90 percent). Compared to the other employment groups, more retirees have contributed to religious charities (47 percent) and disaster relief (34 percent) in past 12 months.
Students are least likely to make charitable donations overall (30 percent have made no contributions in the past 12 months), but a notable 14 percent have contributed to the arts over the past year.
There has been a slight decrease in charitable contributions in the 18 to 34 age group over the past year (74 percent in 2005 vs. 70 percent in 2006), but their contributions to hunger and health-based charities have dramatically increased (hunger 17 percent in 2005 to 27 percent in 2006; health-based 17 percent in 2005 to 26 percent in 2006).
Charitable Donations as Gifts
About one-quarter (27 percent) of adults say they have made a charitable donation in someone else's name, while 14 percent say someone has made a charitable donation on their behalf and seven percent say their employer has made a charitable donation in their behalf.
Almost half (44 percent) say they have made or plan to make a charitable contribution specifically for the holidays this year, while just nine percent say they will do so in someone else’s name.
Contribution Means
Of note, few adults have taken a proactive approach to donate to charity through non-traditional means. Only eight percent say they have donated utilizing a donor advised fund, which allows an individual to combine the most favorable tax benefits with the flexibility to support charities at any time, while four percent have made a bequest to a charity in their will and only three percent each have made a charitable contribution as an endowment or through a gift of stock. These findings point to a general lack of awareness among the public of different charity related contribution vehicles.
Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States between December 4 to 6, 2006 among 2,939 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.
All surveys are subject to several sources of error. These include: sampling error (because only a sample of a population is interviewed); measurement error due to question wording and/or question order, deliberately or unintentionally inaccurate responses, nonresponse (including refusals), interviewer effects (when live interviewers are used) and weighting.
With one exception (sampling error) the magnitude of the errors that result cannot be estimated. There is, therefore, no way to calculate a finite "margin of error" for any survey and the use of these words should be avoided.
With pure probability samples, with 100 percent response rates, it is possible to calculate the probability that the sampling error (but not other sources of error) is not greater than some number. With a pure probability sample of 2,939 one could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall results would have a sampling error of +/-3 percentage points. Sampling error for data based on sub-samples may be higher and may vary. However, that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.