Women Are More Inclined to Support Charities Overseas, Study Finds

Raising money for a charity doing grass-roots work in Africa? You might have better luck approaching women for support than men.

That’s among the findings of a study conducted by Karen Winterich, assistant professor of marketing at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School.

Ms. Winterich found that peoples’ approach to giving can be determined by two factors: gender and moral identity. Moral identity is a measure of how important it is that a person be caring, honest, fair, and kind.

The study investigated how people responded to “in group” causes — those that have an obvious connection to the donor, such as proximity or nationality — and “out group” causes, which have no clear tie.

As part of the study, participants filled out a survey designed to determine their moral identity. Then each was given five $1 bills, which they could keep, give to a Hurricane Katrina relief fund, or donate to a relief fund for victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami.

The results? Women with high moral identity were more inclined to split their money evenly between the two organizations. Those with lower moral identities gave more to Katrina victims, the “in group.”

Men with higher moral identities gave to the Katrina victims but rarely to tsunami victims. Men with low moral identities held on to the money.

Fund raisers might want to focus as often as possible on female donors, says Ms. Winterich. She also says that charities should make it clear to potential donors, particularly men, how they could be viewed as an “in group” cause.

The findings will be published in the Journal of Consumer Research.

What do you think of the study? Does it jibe with your fund-raising experiences?