June 30, 2016 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Donors are likely to give about the same amount of money to charity in 2016 as they did last year, but people who give because they believe strongly in a group’s mission are more likely to dig deeper, says a new study.
Seventy-seven percent of people who gave in 2015 told researchers they expected to donate the same amount this year, with 18 percent planning to increase their giving, according to the study by Gallup, which released the study results in a series of three reports in June.
The findings echo signs of slowing growth in the latest “Giving USA” report, the annual snapshot of fundraising from the Giving USA Foundation. That report said giving rose 4 percent in 2015, down from 6.1 percent the previous year. Reports by Atlas of Giving and by the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the consulting firm Marts & Lundy estimate 2016’s growth will be at 2015’s rate or lower.
The Gallup study found that 81 percent of donors gave because they believed in a charity’s mission. Among the least likely reasons donors gave: the tax deduction they will get for their contributions (8 percent) and their employer’s support of a charity (4 percent).
Donors who said their main reason for contributing was a belief in a group’s mission were twice as likely to say they would give more to that organization in the coming year than people who cited other reasons for giving.
Gallup’s annual study of charitable giving was based on data from more than 17,000 American adults who said they had made a donation in the previous 12 months. The online study was conducted December 2 through 16 last year.
Other findings:
- Donors cited traditional methods as the most likely to get their attention. Forty-six percent said postal mail was at least somewhat effective. Forty-one percent said the same about TV ads. But only 31 percent said so about email.
- Sixty-one percent of respondents said they were more likely to support a specific group if they new exactly what their gift would be used for. Data demonstrating the need for a charity’s work (7 percent) and personal stories of beneficiaries (5 percent) were least likely to sway donors.
- Half of respondents said they research a charity before supporting it. Forty-five percent said they were more likely to give if the nonprofit had a good reputation.
- Nearly half of donors supported three to five organizations.
- Almost half of respondents said they give money regularly to one charity on their list, and 42 percent said they had made only a single gift to one of the organizations they supported last year.
- Forty-six percent said they give several times a year; 26 percent give at least once a month.
- Seventy-eight percent said they were likely to give through a fundraiser at their workplace.
