Study Finds Differences in Giving Patterns Between Wealthy Men and Women

By ELIZABETH GREENE

Wealthy women are less motivated than wealthy men to give to charity by

tax and estate laws, and more inspired by strong feelings about a cause, according to a new study.

While only 25 percent of the affluent women surveyed said that tax and estate laws provided a huge incentive to give, 40 percent of wealthy men said such laws were a very big motivator. And while 70 percent of the men said they gave to social causes they strongly believed in, 90 percent of the women made such donations.

Strong feelings about a cause, more than anything else, prompted wealthy women (44 percent) to make their largest gift, while affluent men (41 percent) were more inspired by a tax benefit than any other incentive.

Wealthy men and women support different causes. Women are more likely to help groups concerned with health, the homeless, and the elderly; men, more than women, support the arts and political organizations.

But while they end up with different interests, many wealthy men and women start out with the same goal: A tax benefit was the initial attraction to giving for 51 percent of the women and 56 percent of the men.

The findings on the giving patterns of affluent men and women in the United States were culled from two online surveys commissioned by HNW Digital, which runs Worth.com, a Web site aimed mainly at wealthy Americans. The surveys were conducted last year by Harris Interactive, an online-research company. The first poll sampled 1,034 adults with a household income of $150,000 or higher and net assets of $500,000 or more (not including their primary residence); the second survey comprised 1,024 people of the same means. In each study, more than 2,000 additional people of all income levels were polled to determine the views of the total population.

Differing Motivations

Women tend to be more motivated by specific causes than are men because on the whole women are more likely to have needed the services of a nonprofit group themselves, or to have been close to other women who did, according to the head of the Women’s Funding Network, in San Francisco.

And often, especially in the area of medicine, women in need get shortchanged, says Christine Grumm, the group’s executive director. “Their own experience reflects gaps in services or in advocacy,” she says, and they are inspired to help. Ms. Grumm’s network encourages grant making for women and girls, predominantly by female donors.

The study showed that more wealthy women (46 percent) feel a responsibility to repay organizations than do affluent men (36 percent). Still, says Ms. Grumm, while affluent women may see their philanthropy as an instrument of social change, “it doesn’t mean they don’t structure it in a smart way tax-wise.”

According to the study, wealthy men and women feel similarly about the potential impact of a repeal of the estate tax. While some nonprofit leaders fear that a repeal could hurt giving because affluent people would not have as much incentive to reduce the size of their estates through charity, 75 percent of wealthy women surveyed, and 71 percent of wealthy men, said a repeal would not change the amount of money they donated.

An even greater percentage of the general public would maintain its giving patterns: Eighty-nine percent said a repeal would have no effect on their giving.

Obstacles to Giving

Wealthy men and women donate roughly the same percentage of their income — an average of 7 percent and 6 percent, respectively. About half of the wealthy men and women surveyed, however, said that a lack of confidence that their money would be used in a productive and valuable way was an obstacle to giving.

More wealthy men (20 percent) than affluent women (11 percent) said they had not found a compelling reason to give, and more of the men (16 percent) than the women (6 percent) said a lack of time got in the way.

More affluent men than women said they made gifts through the Internet. And the median size of the largest gifts the respondents said they had made online was far greater for the men ($807) than it was for the women ($75).

For copies of the report, “HNW Digital Wealth Pulse Survey of Wealth and Women,” write to James Kerwin, Director of Wealth Pulse Sales, HNW Digital, 1 Gateway Center, Suite 402, Newton, Mass. 02458; (800) 285-2989, ext. 241; jkerwin@hnwdigital.com. The cost per copy, including shipping, is $1,295 for nonprofit organizations; $1,950 for other groups and individuals. Information about the report is also available online at http://www.hnwdigital.com.