Majority of Donors Plan to Keep Giving to Same Number of Charities Next Year

Despite the bad economy and rising unemployment rates, a majority of American professionals say they will give to the same number of nonprofit organizations next year as they did in the preceding 12 months, according to preliminary results from a new survey.

Fifty-eight percent of respondents in the survey said they will probably give to the same number of nonprofit organizations next year, and nearly a quarter said that they had donated more than $5,000 to nonprofit causes in the preceding 12 months.

The research, conducted by the American Society of Association Executives, was based on a survey of more than 5,000 adults. The respondents included its own members as well as members of five other associations.

Sixty-six percent of respondents predicted that their “employment situation” would be the same next year, and another 26 percent said they expected theirs to improve. Only 8 percent predicted that their job outlook would worsen.

Among survey respondents who said they had donated in the past 12 months, the most popular causes were religious organizations (61 percent), social-service groups (50 percent), health organizations (43 percent), educational institutions (33 percent), and disaster-response groups (28 percent).

A full copy of the research will be published in January.