American Express Charitable Gift Survey

This fall 2007 study asked donors about their giving and found no statistically significant differences in the size of the most recent online and offline gifts made by more than 900 donors. For all gifts, two-thirds of donations were $100 or less and the median charitable donation was $50. Other Center research has shown that the average donor household gives about $2,000 a year. This study suggests that the vast majority of donors give many small donations. The report includes the mean and median sizes of the most recent online and offline contributions by type of recipient charity -- religion, health care, human services, combined funds like United Way, and so on.

Respondents also provided motivations for giving online: 64 percent said they gave online because it is a convenient way to give. Another 20 percent offered reasons related to the charity's own online presence: I got a request with a link to a site; I could find the site easily; and other similar statements. For not giving online, 28 percent of respondents said they didn't make an online contribution because they were not asked, they couldn't find an online site for the charity they wanted to support, or they "just didn't think of giving online."

Because the survey was fielded in the early part of the traditional fall "giving season" in the U.S., the researchers also asked respondents about how much of their giving occurs from Thanksgiving to New Year's. On average, people make 24 percent of their annual donations in those six weeks--or about twice what one would expect if giving were equally distributed throughout the year. There was, however, a wide range of responses about holiday giving. Nearly 30 percent of higher income households (those with income of $100,000 or more) said that they give less at the holidays than they do at other times.

The survey reached a random sample of Americans in the last two weeks of September 2007 about their most recent charitable gift. Including an oversample of online donors, there were 1,428 useable responses. American Express sponsored the research for the American Express Charitable Gift Survey, which was conducted by Innovative Research Group. The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University completed the analysis and the report. This project was managed by the Hart Philanthropic Services Group/tedhart.com.

American Express Charitable Gift Survey - PDF | American Express Charitable Gift Survey - Powerpoint

2006 Bank of America Study of High Net-Worth Philanthropy Portraits of Donors

Portraits of Donors is a new report that reveals specific behavioral patterns and motivations of the nation’s wealthy and ultra-wealthy donors. The report is based on data from the 2006 Bank of America Study of High Net-Worth Philanthropy, the most in-depth quantitative study ever conducted of the wealthiest 3.1% of U.S. households. The original study revealed that wealthy donors possess very different philanthropic traits when compared to the general U.S. population. In response to high levels of interest in the original study from non-profit strategists and donors, Bank of America has delivered on its promise to provide a more in-depth analysis of its findings.

Developed in partnership with the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, Bank of America's Portraits of Donors digs deeper to unveil the unique behaviors, charitable practices and motivations among 12 types of wealthy and ultra-wealthy donors. Donors can leverage these findings to help determine what they want to accomplish with their philanthropic missions and identify like-minded donors or strategists for advice. Non-profit organizations can leverage these findings to help determine how best to approach and communicate with wealthy donors based on the characteristics they’re likely to possess.

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Bank of America Study on High Net-Worth Philanthropy

High Net-Worth households, those with incomes of greater than $200,000 or assets in excess of $1,000,000, represent 3.1 percent of the total households in the United States. This very small number of households has an enormously disproportionate impact on charitable giving – they are responsible for approximately two-thirds of all household charity in this country. The Bank of America Study of High Net-Worth Philanthropy is the most in-depth quantitative study of those households aimed at understanding not only their charitable practices, but also the motivations behind them. Bank of America, one of the leading providers to both philanthropic individuals and institutions, partnered with the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, one of the nation’s leading academic centers for the study and practice of philanthropy. Based on a random survey of over 30,000 households in high net-worth neighborhoods across the country (1,400 responses), this landmark study has major implications for the philanthropic sector: those who donate, the nonprofits that benefit from those donations, and the financial institutions that support them. These are the initial findings from the study.

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2008 Bank of America Study on High Net-Worth Philanthropy

The 2008 Bank of America Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy offers new insights into the giving behaviors of America’s wealthiest donors. Conducted for Bank of America by The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, the 2008 research follows up and expands upon an initial landmark study published through this partnership in 2006 – the largest survey of wealthy Americans ever conducted on this topic – which has become a leading resource for the philanthropy industry for understanding these important donors.

The new 2008 study followed much of the same methodology as the initial 2006 study in order to identify key trends and to provide even deeper insights into the motivations and attitudes of wealthy donors. The study is the result of randomly surveying over 20,000 households in high net-worth neighborhoods across the country. It reflects the responses of nearly 700 respondents with an average net worth of $12.6 million, excluding their primary residence.

For non-profit professionals, volunteers and charitable advisors, this study offers new information about what high net-worth donors: expect from non-profit organizations, hope to achieve through major gifts and the reasons why they stop giving to particular organizations. The 2008 report also reveals new information on the role that charitable and financial advisors play in high net-worth philanthropy, including the initiation of charitable advice and the utilization of charitable giving vehicles.

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Bequest Giving

While most households (67 percent) report donating to charities in recent years, just 8 percent report leaving a charitable bequest in their wills. In principle, anyone who gives during his/her lifetime is a potential bequest donor. Campbell & Company funded a study that sought to improve our understanding of who makes charitable bequests and how nonprofit organizations can raise the number of households that leave charitable bequests. Based on responses to survey questions asked of more than 2,000 people (donors and non-donors), individuals aged 40 to 60 and those with at least a bachelor’s degree education were the most likely to be willing to consider naming a charity in their will.

Executive Summary

E-mail study@campbellcompany.com to request a copy of the full report from Campbell & Company.

Charitable Bequests and Gender Differences in Giving Motivations - a Study for AFP/Legacy Leaders Research Fund

Gender does not generally predict whether someone who donates to charity is likely to leave a charitable bequest in his or her will. About 16 percent of donors surveyed had a charitable bequest in their will. Single men and women (who had never married) were more likely than married or widowed individuals to have a bequest. Other important determinants of having a charitable bequest were income level and education level. Donors with a charitable bequest cited their sense of responsibility to help those with less as their strongest motivation for their charitable giving. The third-most frequent motivation, after religious beliefs, was their belief that charities deliver services more effectively than government or for-profit organizations. The results are found using studies of eight different geographical regions of the United States as conducted by the Center on Philanthropy between 2003 and 2008.

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Charitable giving focusing on the needs of the poor

The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University and Google partnered in early 2007 to estimate how much of the charitable giving by households in the U.S. focuses on the needs of the poor. This analysis finds that less than one-third of the money individuals gave to nonprofits in 2005 was focused on the needs of the economically disadvantaged. Of the $250 billion in donations, less than $78 billion explicitly targeted those in need.

Only 8 percent of households' donated dollars were reported as contributions to help meet basic needs--providing food, shelter or other necessities. An additional estimated 23 percent of total giving from all sources went to programs specifically intended to help people of low income--either providing other direct benefits (such as medical treatment and scholarships) or through initiatives creating opportunity and empowerment (such as literacy and job training programs).

Working Paper

2009 Congregational Economic Impact Study

2009 Congregational Economic Impact Study - Many congregations are concerned about charitable giving in these times. The Alban Institute and Lake Institute on Faith & Giving at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University have collaborated to assess the challenges congregations have faced over the past two years and to provide information that will help inform changes in current practices. This report also takes an in-depth look at how congregations responded to the recession and which types of congregations fared better during the recession and which types were more adversely impacted.

Learn more and view the report

Corporate Giving 2006

Many researchers have summarized changes in corporate philanthropy during the past decade. The Center on Philanthropy interviewed key corporate giving program staff at 10 leading donor companies in the United States in fall 2006, asking questions focused on how these companies are currently conducting their philanthropic programs and what the program managers thought might be emerging as potential trends. Among the interviewed companies, in the areas where the firm has selected a particular philanthropic goal, they are seeking to engage nonprofits at partners, not mere recipients. The nonprofit brings expertise, opportunities, and ideas as its part of the partnership. These companies are also extending philanthropic decision-making fairly deep and wide in their organizations, trying to engage staff at nearly all levels in some aspect of the company's philanthropic initiatives. They want their nonprofit partners to help in that effort to engage more employees. These firms also want measurements of the impact of their giving, yet some are still struggling with how to implement metrics that work for the nonprofiit and for the corporate goals.

Key Findings

Donor Motivations

Analysis by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, funded by CCS, reveals that regional variations in the motivations selected for charitable giving can be explained by regional differences in income and education, not underlying values specific to the region. No matter where they lived, donors in different income groups identified similar motivations for their giving. Among donors with income less than $50,000, the motivational statements that resonated were “helping to meet basic needs” or “helping the poor help themselves.” Donors with income between $50,000 and $100,000 said more often than those in other income groups that they gave to “make the world better.” Among donors with income of $100,000 or more, the phrases likely to be selected as motivations for giving were “those with more should help those with less” or “making my community better.”

View the Report (PDF)

Higher Education Grant Making

Best Practices in Education Grant Making 2009 investigates strategic grant making in the field of higher education. Through an analysis of literature and interviews with six leading funders in higher education, the report identifies effective strategies of grantmaking organizations in addressing barriers to higher education. Such strategies include defining organizational purpose and identity, utilizing of innovative techniques, catalyzing research, collaborating with co-funders, and measuring impact.

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Million Dollar List

For thirty-three years, Arthur C. Frantzreb maintained a list of all reported gifts of $1 million or more. The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University agreed in 1999 to compile and distribute the Million Dollar List to ensure that his unique record of significant gifts is continued, as a service to fundraisers, as a document for historians, and as an example for donors. Mr. Frantzreb, who passed away in early 2004, was an advisor to the Center on Philanthropy from its founding in 1987 and also had been a consulting member to the Center's Board of Governors. Gifts made to the Center on Philanthropy fund the research, compilation, and publication of the Million Dollar List.

A searchable database of Million Dollar gifts made between 2000 and 2009 is available to premium service members of the Center on Philanthropy. One week access to the database is also available.

Second Quarter, 2010 (April 1^st to June 30^th)

• Executive summary, commenting on changes in the list over time, in Adobe Acrobat format
• The detailed lists in Adobe Acrobat format: an itemized list of all 2^nd quarter 2010 gifts, an historical list of gifts by size (from 1963 to Second Quarter 2010) and a historial list of gifts by year (from 1963 to Second Quarter 2010).

First Quarter, 2010 (January 1^st to March 31^st)

• Executive summary, commenting on changes in the list over time, in Adobe Acrobat format
• The detailed lists in Adobe Acrobat format: an itemized list of all 1^st quarter 2010 gifts, an historical list of gifts by size (from 1963 to First Quarter 2010) and a historical list of gifts by year (from 1963 to First Quarter 2010).

Fourth Quarter, 2009 (October 1^st to December 31^st)

• Executive summary, commenting on changes in the list over time, in Adobe Acrobat format
• The detailed lists in Adobe Acrobat format: an itemized list of all 4^th quarter 2009 gifts, an historical list of gifts by size (from 1963 to Fourth Quarter 2009) and a historical list of gifts by year (from 1963 to Fourth Quarter 2009).

Third Quarter, 2009 (July 1^st to September 30^th)

• Executive summary, commenting on changes in the list over time, in Adobe Acrobat format
• The detailed lists in Adobe Acrobat format: an itemized list of all 3^rd quarter 2009 gifts, an historical list of gifts by size (from 1963 to Third Quarter 2009) and a historical list of gifts by year (from 1963 to Third Quarter 2009).

A searchable format of the Million Dollar List, with records back to 2000, is available by subscription. Search terms include donor name, recipient name, amount, subsector of recipient (education, health, etc.) and more. See Premium Services to subscribe.

Rural and Urban Donors: Comparing Donation Patterns

Rural donors give less on average than donors living in urban areas but they give a higher percentage of their income than their urban peers, analysis by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University finds. Charitable Giving by Type of Community: Comparing Donation Patterns of Rural and Urban Donors, examines patterns of charitable giving between rural and urban households. In the study, which was funded by the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Research Fund, donors in rural communities were significantly more likely to say they gave because of their values, such as a belief in helping those with less and their religious beliefs. Urban donors were more likely to say that they give to make an impact and because their family and friends asked them to give.

Read the full report.

Significant Gifts: Where Donors Direct Their Largest Gifts and Why

Donors to charitable organizations give more when they are asked in person and when someone they know makes the request, a new study commissioned by Chicago-based consulting firm Campbell & Company and conducted by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University finds. The study, Significant Gifts: Where Donors Direct Their Largest Gifts and Why, which is based on a national sample of more than 8,300 donors, confirms what nonprofit organization fundraisers have often observed: people give to people, and especially to people they know. The study examined characteristics of and factors influencing a donor household’s single largest gift.

Visit the Campbell & Company website to request a copy of the full report.

Survey of Americans' Generosity after September 11

Americans who gave to the September 11th relief efforts gave an average of nearly $134, and those who volunteered gave an average of almost 17 hours. These and other findings are reported in a study conducted by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and the AFP Foundation for Philanthropy. The study was released in January 2002.

America Gives Report

William B. Hanrahan CCS Fellowship Report about gifts of $1 million or more

The most comprehensive look to date at gifts of $1 million or more reveals that donors of “self-made” wealth made the most gifts and gave the most dollars, according to a study of the Million Dollar List™ released in November 2008. CCS, a fundraising, development services and nonprofit consulting firm, funded the analysis through the Center’s William B. Hanrahan CCS Fellowship. The study of more than 4,840 gifts from individuals to charitable organizations of $1 million or more that were announced in the news media between January 2000 and September 2007 examines the gift amounts and causes the gifts supported, as well as characteristics of the donors.

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