Affluent Americans Feel Compelled to Give to Charity, but Not to Give More Money, New Poll Finds

Wealthy Americans say they feel more compelled to give to charities than they did three years ago, but most

of them don’t plan to increase the amount they give to charity in 2003, according to the results of a new poll.

More than 80 percent of affluent Americans who responded to the poll say they will give as much as they did in 2002, while 6 percent say they will donate more to charities than they did in 2002, according to Wealth + Values, a study performed by Community Foundations of America, in Louisville, Ky., a professional association that represents 98 community foundations across the nation; and HNW Inc., in New York, an organization that provides information to groups that court potential donors who are wealthy. The study focused on people with both $500,000 or more in assets and an annual household income of at least $150,000.

The poll, a follow-up to an examination of the values of wealthy Americans completed by the two groups in August 2000, also found that those with very high incomes or assets are spending less time on their careers and more time with friends and families and in the areas where they live than they were three years ago.

The president of one of the groups that performed the study says that might augur well for charity fund raising.

“The message is that wealthy individuals value the connections they have with their towns and cities,” says Carla E. Dearing, chief executive at Community Foundations of America. “We’re hearing this anecdotally from community foundations around the country. Well-heeled people still are planning to do significant things with their money, particularly if they believe in the mission of a particular organization in their community. Those plans might get delayed by market fluctuations, but they still will happen.”

A vast majority of the 712 donors in the study — 85 percent — say that a group’s mission was the major deciding factor in their gifts. Nearly two-thirds of the people polled said that they feel a strong sense of responsibility to give in their geographic areas. In 2000, only one in two said they felt obligated to do so.

This year’s poll, conducted online during April and May, shows some shifts in attitudes on the economy and on giving.

Two in three respondents evince more optimism than they did before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, saying they believe the U.S. economy will improve, far more than the 16 percent who expressed such optimism in the 2000 Wealth + Values study.

The poll found little change in how wealthy people give.

Nearly 90 percent say they make gifts directly to charities, while 22 percent use donor-advised funds, and 18 percent give to community foundations. Two out of three donors say they will give $10,000 or less to charitable causes this year.

Wealthy people age 65 and older and those who have possessed their wealth for longer periods tend to give at higher levels, while adults with children tend to give more often to educational institutions, women’s groups, and programs designed to benefit children.

Wealthy men are more likely than women to make donations to arts organizations and advocacy groups, while women tend to give to animal rights’ groups, environmental organizations, and groups that advocate for women’s rights at higher rates than men do, the survey found.

Both men and women give at high rates to health charities and educational institutions.

A summary of the study is available free on the Community Foundations of America Web site, http://www.cfamerica.org.