Do fundraisers select charitable donors based on gender and race? Evidence from survey data

Abstract

Recent studies document that people are much more likely to donate to charity and volunteer their time when they are asked to. Using household surveys of giving and volunteering in the United States conducted from 1992 to 2001, which contain questions on whether the respondent was personally asked to give or volunteer, this paper investigates the factors associated with the probability of receiving a charitable solicitation and presents substantial evidence that race and gender di¤erences play key roles in the selection of potential donors. In particular, males, blacks, and Hispanics are less likely to be solicited compared with females and whites. Using non-linear decomposition techniques, I …nd that di¤erences in observable characteristics of individuals explain most of the racial gap in the probability of being solicited for charitable causes, but they fail to explain the gender gap in the probability of being asked to volunteer. Furthermore, these results are robust to alternative speci…cations. I also discuss related policy implications and argue that the economic impact of selecting potential donors based on gender and race can be considerable.

Factors Influencing U.S. Charitable Giving during the Great Recession: Implications for Nonprofit Administration

“…Yoruk examined race and gender differences in the probability of being asked to donate to a cause [14]. Using nonlinear decomposition techniques with data on U.S. giving collected between 1992 and 2001, the study found that blacks are 12% less likely than whites to be asked to give, while nonwhite Hispanics were 26% less likely to be asked to give.…”

The fundraiser's journey: A developmentally informed, grounded theory analysis

“…Fundraisers in general are predominately White (Bureau of Labor Statistics, ). Although this is beyond the scope of our current study, we encourage future investigators to remain attentive to the complex ways in which race may be related to career choice, career opportunities, professional development activities, and personal philanthropic activities (see, e.g., Jones, ; Yörük, ). Gender, too, may play a complex role in the fundraiser's journey, and future researchers should be attune to the gender‐related motivations to become (or not become) a fundraiser.…”

Giving to Matthew, Emily, Jose, or Maria: A Field Study Examining the Impact of Race and Gender on Donation Requests

“…In addition, research conducted by Yörük (2012) found that White individuals are solicited to volunteer more often than people of other races, and women are solicited to volunteer more often than are men. Indeed, recent survey findings indicated that most fundraisers are White women (Breeze & Dale, 2020; Dale, 2017).…”