Political Campaigns Don’t Hurt Charity Appeals, Study Finds

Charities shouldn’t worry that they will get poor returns if they send too many mail appeals during election season — at least that’s what past experience shows, according to a study released this week by a direct-marketing company.

Contributions from individuals to political campaigns soared from $220-million in 2000 to more than $570-million in 2004, according to the study by Merkle, a Columbia, Md., company. But that increase was not matched by a similar decline in direct-mail gifts to several environmental, health, relief, or military causes, the company said.

A key reason is that people who give to political campaigns aren’t the same people who charities rely on for support when they send direct-mail solicitations.

People who give in response do charity mail appeals tend to be older than the average donor and have lower incomes and less education. Donors to political campaigns are younger, have higher incomes, and hold at least a college degree. In addition, charity donors tend to be female, while political donors are predominantly male, according to the study.

The impact of political fund-raising on charitable giving is difficult to measure, but the money raised by political campaigns has never exceeded 1 percent of the amount donors give to charities each year.