Women Get More Joy From Higher Giving While Men Are Simply Happy to Make a Donation, Study Finds

Title: Women Give 2017

Organization: Women’s Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

Summary: The study found that people who give to charity are happier than those who don’t, regardless of marital status or gender. But there are differences in how men and women experience the joy of giving. Men derive happiness simply from becoming donors. Women feel greater satisfaction when donating a larger portion of their income. The study also revealed higher levels of happiness overall in families in which women drive or participate equally in decisions about giving. Data came from the Philanthropy Panel Study that Lilly analyzes, considered one of the most reliable sources of giving data.

Among the findings:

• Married people or couples that live together give the highest share of their income to charity, and they rate their satisfaction with life higher than others do.
• There’s a difference between the most affluent Americans and others in how their giving affects their satisfaction with life. Among households in which decisions about charitable giving are driven by women and more than 2 percent of total income is donated to charity, families making less than $100,000 a year are more satisfied with their lives than those making $100,000 or more.
• Men and women respond differently to changes in their giving habits. Single men who become donors report being more satisfied with their lives. Single and married women derive greater satisfaction from increasing the amount they give to charity.