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Current Research - COPPS
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Charitable giving by income range and range of age of head of household, 2002
Charitable giving varies in systematic ways based on the age of the donor and
the donor's household income. In 2002, for example, 61 percent of households
headed by someone aged 65 or more gave $25 or more or a charity. In the same
year, just 40 percent of households headed by someone under 40 gave $25 or more
to a charity.
In addition to comparing the percentage of households in an age/income group
that give, we can compare the average dollar amount contributed by households
organized into age/income groups and we can compare the average percentage
of income that is contributed. We can also make these comparisons for total
giving, religious giving, and giving for non-religious (secular) causes.
The tables available here show results from the Center on Philanthropy Panel
Study conducted in 2003 about giving in 2002 for total giving, religious
giving, and secular giving. In general, giving is:
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More likely to occur as income rises -- a higher percentage of households are donors as income increases (the top income group studied has annual income of $100,000 or more).
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More likely to occur as age increases. The top age studied was 65 and above.
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Least likely among households headed by someone aged 18 to 39 with an income of less than $50,000 a year. This group is the least likely to be donors, and when they give, the average amount contributed is the lowest.
There is an exception to these generalizations. Young households (aged 18 to 39) with income of $100,000 or more are as likely to give to secular causes as older households. About 85 percent of higher-income, young households contribute to secular causes compared with 88 percent of older households. The average donation from young households is still lower, on average, as young households gave an aveage of $1,144 to secular causes, compared with $1,833 contributed on average to secular causes by people aged 40 to 64.
Click here to download the tables
Charitable giving by marital status and income range, 2002
In general, in all income groups, married couples, widows and widowers are more
likely to give and give more, on average, than single men or single
women (men or women who have never been married). Just over
three-quarters (77%) of married couples/widows/widowers donated $25 or more to
charity in 2002. The average total amount contributed was $2,286, equating
to 2.2 percent of average income for households in this group.
Single (never married) women are slightly more likely to be donors than
single (never married) men, with 48 percent of never married women contributing
$25 or more in 2002 and 46 percent of never married men contributing. The
average gift amounts are very close, at $970 for single women and $976 for
single men. However, because of income differences, single women donors
contribute 2.3 percent of income, compared with 1.8 percent of income donated
by the single men who give.
People who have been married, but whose marriages have ended in
separation, divorce, or annulment, give in a pattern that is mid-way between
married couples and never-married people. About 6 in 10 (59%) of people who have
been married but are not now gave in 2002, and the average total amount
contributed was $1,001. Contributions averaged 2.1 percent of income.
Click here to download the tables
Charitable giving by race/ethnicity and income, 2002
When interpreting the descriptive results in the table available here, it is
inappropriate to use words such as generous or its opposites. Findings that
people of different ethnic or racial backgrounds report different giving patterns
does not mean that being part of one racial group or another causes specific
charitable actions. It actually reflects that fact that people of different
racial and ethnic backgrounds have different levels of income and
education (which do help explain charitable giving) and may also reflect
different levels of engagement in formal religious worship (with more frequent
attenders at worship services giving more).
Research by Patrick Rooney, Deb Mesch, and Kathy Steinberg has shown that after
controlling for income and education, race does not play a role in explaining
total charitable giving (Economics Letters, February 2005). Two working papers
available at the Center on Philanthropy web site, Patterns of Giving 2001
(WIlhelm and Steinberg) and Patterns of Giving 2003 (Yoshioka) illustrate this
further. When taking into account factors such as income and education level,
the racial differences that appear here in descriptive results about giving
(percent who give, average gift amount, and so on) disappear.
It is also important to note that terms such as generous or stingy refer, in
part, to whether one responds to requests for help. This survey does not contain
information about who is asked to give. This survey also does not track informal
help offered directly to others, which is reportedly far more common in some
communities than in others. The analysis here also does not include giving to
groups in other countries. Una Osili and her colleagues show that 1st and 2nd
generation immigrants are more likely to direct their charitable giving to their
countries of origin (working paper available at the Center on Philanthropy
web site). Some of study participants in this research are 1st or 2nd generation
immigrants, which may account for some of the apparent low percentages in giving
for Asian/Pacific Islanders and Latino/Hispanics.
In the Center on Philanthropy Panel Study, which represents the national
population, charitable giving to formal charities was most commonly reported
among Caucasian/White participants (72% reported charitable giving) and among
Asian/Pacific Islanders (74% reported charitable giving). It is important to note
that in the highest-income group, those with household income of $100,000 or
more, 89 percent or more of all households gave to charity among all race/ethnicity
categories available for analysis.
African-American survey participants reported comparatively high levels of giving
to religion in all income groups, with nearly three-quarters (74%) of the
highest-income group reporting religious contributions averaging 3.4 perent of
income. By contrast, people in other ethnic/racial groups show 63 percent or
less of high-income households giving to religion, with contributions averaging
between 1 to 2 percent of household income, depending upon the ethnic group.
Secular contributions were most frequent among Caucasian/White and Asian/Pacific
Islander households, with contributions from 60 to 62 percent of these
households. In general, contributions to non-religious charities are lower in
total amount and as a percentage of income than contributions to religious charities.
Click here to download the tables
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