Dynamics of American Giving: Descriptive Evidence

Abstract

Almost all of the scientific literature on charitable giving is implicitly based on a static paradigm which posits there are non-donors who never give and donors who habitually give year-in/year-out to a specific charitable purpose. This article presents evidence that charitable giving is not static, but dynamic: Few Americans never give, and among Americans that donate the majority are switchers—giving in some years but not others or switching from one charitable purpose to another. The implications are that a static perspective is misleading, and research questions should place more emphasis on the time dimension of charitable giving.

Altruism born of suffering? The impact of an adverse health shock on pro-social behaviour

“…The finding that the effect of adverse health shocks varies between the immediate aftermath and longer-term reinforces the findings from recent studies that it is important to move beyond static analyses to consider the dynamics of charitable giving over time (Andreoni and Serra-Garcia, 2018, Scharf et al, 2017, Rooney et al, 2019; by showing an increase in giving to health charities occurs at the expense of giving to non-health charities, we also add to a growing number of papers that provide evidence on substitutability / complementarity between different types of giving (Reinstein, 2011, Harwell et al, 2015, Filiz-Ozbay and Uler, 2018.…”

“…Recent studies have drawn attention to the importance of studying the dynamics of charitable giving (Andreoni and Serra-Garcia, 2018, Scharf et al, 2017, Rooney et al, 2019. Models of pure and impure altruism typically assume that individuals exhibit stable behaviour over time (Andreoni, 1990) but the fact that altruistic/ warm glow preferences may change following a health shock would be evidence that this is not the case.…”

Developing communication strategies to engage a new generation of donors: Fostering relationships between Gen Z and non‐profit organizations

“…Approximately 66% of Gen Y engage in pre-giving research, primarily relying on testimonials and considering financial information when available (Advancement Form, 2017). Gen Y are often active online, particularly on social media; however, they highly value personal phone calls as a mode of communication (Rooney et al, 2021). Digital platforms, such as Apple Pay and PayPal, are their preferred donation methods, as they exhibit a preference for text message and mobile application giving (PayPal, 2021).…”

The U-Shaped Charitable-Giving Curve

“…Depending on what it is, the root cause or causes of this U-curved pattern could have important implications for the social science and the public policy of charitable contributions. While there is vigorous debate about the magnitude of changes in the income distribution, there is general agreement that the distribution of income in the United States has grown at least somewhat more unequal levels in recent decades (Auten & Splinter, 2022; Piketty et al, 2018), and that the distribution of giving has become more lopsided and driven by major donors, at least, within any given year (Duquette, 2021; Rooney et al, 2021). However, it is an open question how and why high-income donors react to changes in the income distribution that are difficult to measure and typically associated with other policy shifts (Duquette, 2018; Splinter, 2018).…”