For Many Americans, Donating Is Not a Yearly Activity, Study Finds

Many Americans who give to charitable causes do so only intermittently, according to a new study.

Researchers at Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy surveyed the same 8,000 households about their charitable giving in three years: 2000, 2002, and 2004.

They found that only 56 percent gave donations in each of the three years, while 29 percent made contributions in some but not all of the years. Less than 15 percent did not give in any of the years studied.

“We know that it is cheaper to keep a donor than it is to find a new donor, yet there is a substantial share of donors who move in and out of the donor market,” said Patrick M. Rooney, director of research for the Center on Philanthropy. “This is a call to action to say that maybe we need to do a better job of donor renewal.”

The study also found that families who gave routinely contributed larger amounts than those who gave inconsistently. People who gave every year contributed an average of $2,659 in 2004. Those individuals who gave in one or two of the years studied contributed an average of $820.

Despite the tendency of many donors to give one year and not the next, the total number of households that contributed each year was very similar (67 to 69 percent). In 2004, 68 percent of households donated $25 or more to charitable organizations. They gave an average of $2,045.

The survey was produced by the Center on Philanthropy Panel Study, which conducts studies every two years. Other findings from the study of 2004 giving included:

• More families gave to religious organizations than to any other type of group, donating an average of $1,858.
• Twenty-eight percent of donors gave to social-service groups, for an average of $482.
• Twenty-seven percent made gifts to groups that redistribute the money they have raised, such as United Ways and Jewish federations. The average gift to those types of organizations was $502.
• About 24 percent of households gave in late 2004 or early 2005 to help victims of the Asian tsunamis. On average, they gave $121.
• Households with incomes of $100,000 or more gave a lower percentage of their income (2.2 percent) than families with incomes under $50,000, who gave 4.2 percent of their income.

Key results of the Center on Philanthropy Panel Study are available online.