Hispanic charitable giving: An opportunity for nonprofit development

In 2003, the U.S. Census Bureau indicated that Hispanics had become the largest U.S. minority group. Representing 14 percent of the population, more than forty million Hispanics currently live in the United States and are a growing source of charitable giving. This study uses a national probability sample (n = 3,261) to examine variables that may influence Hispanic charitable giving in the United States to private nonprofit organizations. Logistic regression analyses indicated that Hispanics were eight times more likely to donate to human service organizations when using payroll deduction. In addition, Hispanics who were solicited for a donation by telephone were twice as likely to make a donation to educational organizations as Hispanic donors not solicited by phone. Volunteerism was also a predictor of Hispanic charitable giving. U.S. demographic trends and this study's findings suggest that nonprofit leaders, including those responsible for fundraising in private nonprofit organizations, need to be aware of the opportunities for Hispanic charitable support.     

The Family Tribute in Charitable Bequest Giving

The propensity for charitable bequest giving is much lower than for current charitable giving. Some nonexperimental evidence suggests that this difference may be due to the relatively greater importance of family benefit considerations in charitable bequest giving than in current charitable giving. To test this concept experimentally, the effects of a family–charity conflict reduction message (that is, a reminder of family connections to a cause and an opportunity to make a tribute gift) are measured for both current and bequest giving. For those with family connections to a cause, the message generated increased interest in charitable bequest giving but not in current charitable giving. This result provides experimental support for previous suggestions regarding the special role of family considerations in charitable bequest giving. Managers may profitably consider the use of tribute messages to encourage bequest, but not necessarily current, charitable giving. Such messages were effective at increasing bequest intentions for all organization types and demographic groups tested, especially where the tribute was in honor of an ascendant such as a mother, grandmother, grandfather, or uncle.     

Cross-National Differences in Charitable Giving in the West and the World

Most theories of cross-national variation in charitable giving have been tested only on samples of countries of Western European culture; this paper applies these theories to 114 countries, including 93 non-Western countries, using data from the Gallup World Poll. It finds strong support for economic and political theories of cross-national variation in charitable giving and partial support for religious and cultural theories. Theories effectively predict variation in giving in middle income non-Western countries but poorly predict variation in low-income non-Western countries. This suggests that economic development, not cultural or religious differences, separate non-Western countries from Western ones in patterns of giving behavior.     

Generosity vs. Altruism: Philanthropy and Charity in the United States and United Kingdom

This paper presents a comparative analysis of giving ethos and behavior in the United States and the United Kingdom, in particular the relationship of giving to civic life. Obvious disparities between the two countries exist when overall levels of giving are considered. In the United States, individual giving as a percentage of gross national or domestic product has consistently hovered around 2% of Gross Domestic Product. By contrast, charitable giving in the United Kingdom has yet to reach 1% of GDP. The paper identifies the differences in giving ethos and behavior in the two countries in relation to the complexity of the differences between the political structures, social attitudes, and the role of charitable giving in the two countries. In particular, the paper postulates a set of models—generosity and altruism—for explaining the differences.     

On the behavioural relevance of optional and mandatory impure public goods

Impure public goods combine a private good with a public good. Often, impure public goods have a charitable or ethical dimension, giving ethically motivated consumers a convenient option to contribute to public goods through the marketplace (in addition to direct donations). Impure public goods could potentially promote ethical giving or alternatively hinder charitable behaviour. We implement an economics experiment with a between-subject design to test the behavioural relevance of impure public goods with only a token (i.e. small) contribution to a public good. Contributions to the public good are negatively affected by the presence of impure public goods with token contributions. We explore one mechanism to offset this negative impact by making the token impure public good mandatory. We observe higher average contributions and several positive impacts on charitable behaviour, which supports the claim that this mechanism can potentially offset the negative impact of impure public goods.     

An Analysis of the Peer Effects in Charitable Giving: The Case of Taiwan

The purpose of this study was to utilize the data from the Survey on Family Income and Expenditure in Taiwan to investigate the influence of peer effects on the behavior of charitable giving. Based on the definitions of the reference group in this study, the estimation results suggested that peer effects on households' decisions on both whether to make charitable giving and how much to contribute were quite modest. The study also found that the price elasticity and the income elasticity of charitable giving in Taiwan were larger than those in the U.S., which may partially explain the low ratio of charitable giving to GDP in Taiwan. The earthquake in 1999 substantially increased the amount of charitable giving though its effect diminished after sometime.     

The Final Instance - Unemployment Insurance Going Private? A Study of a Future Social Security Scenario in the UK and Germany

This paper explores the scope for privatizing unemployment insurance in Britain and Germany. The research builds on two consecutive projects, undertaken in the two countries between 1996 and 2000. The studies investigated people's attitudes towards the welfare state and private insurance, and families' strategies to manage the financial risk of unemployment. About 6% of the working population of both Britain and Germany claimed to possess private unemployment insurance. A further 23% in Britain and 12% in Germany expressed an intention to acquire private unemployment insurance. Attitudes towards private unemployment insurance were influenced by perceptions of unemployment risk, household circumstances, private money management strategies, and perceptions of the welfare state and the efficiency and trustworthiness of its institutions. The risk of exclusion from insurance in the two countries, either voluntary or as a result of actuarial risk assessment, is investigated. There is at present little evidence of adverse selection, nor would an expansion of the private unemployment insurance market necessarily entail that risk. However, the study found some, albeit limited, evidence of moral hazard. Significant country-specific differences were apparent in all aspects of the study.     

Charitable Giving as a Luxury Good and the Philanthropic Sphere of Influence

Using regression analysis, 41 years of charitable giving and income data was evaluated to determine if charitable giving is a luxury, normal, or inferior good, and to determine the income elasticity for separate nonprofit sectors. Total Giving to the nonprofit subsector as well as most nonprofit sectors (Religion, Education, Human Services, and Environment) is a normal good, while Arts and International giving are likely luxury goods. However, evidence suggests that Health and Public Benefit are likely inferior goods. This research makes three contributions. First, it offers quantitative data as evidence in the supply-side and demand-side debates. Second, owing to income elasticities, researchers propose the Philanthropic Sphere of Influence and postulate that as incomes rise, donors are more likely to give to causes from which they are less likely to personally benefit. Third, by evaluating charitable giving as a whole and then by each subsector, the research demonstrates that each nonprofit subsector responds uniquely to changes in income. Therefore, nonprofit sectors should be evaluated separately.     

Spencer's Future of Welfare: A Vision Eclipsed

Spencer's sustained opposition to statutory welfare provisions, based on his theory of social and general evolution, is generally familiar. Much less familiar, however, are his positive arguments, made at various points in his Principles of Sociology, Principles of Ethics and other places, in favour of what he calls 'positive private beneficence' (which today would be called 'informal welfare' or 'informal care'). Unfamiliar also are his analysis of charitable organisations and his support for an expansion of the administration of civil justice to enhance welfare. In fact, Spencer was laying out a form of welfare pluralism at the close of the last century. This article explores these matters. In particular it argues that Spencer's work on these matters, or rather its neglect, should be seen as significant in the history of social theory and welfare and in understanding the present day rediscovery of informal welfare. It also demonstrates that Spencer's work on private beneficence and the administration of justice is important for understanding his theory of social evolution.     

Engaging Children in Meaningful Charity: Opening-up the Spaces within Which Children Learn to Give

This paper presents qualitative evidence from an in-depth, participative action research project with 150 children aged 4–8 years old, exploring their experiences, perceptions and preferences regarding charitable giving. Most children positively engage in charitable giving through home, school and their community; however, less than 20% are aware of the cause area they are being asked to support, and most have little decision-making in their giving. Children’s willingness to engage increases when they critically examine the cause area and are facilitated to lead on giving decisions, often resulting in increased and sustained efforts to support cause areas that matter to them.     

The effect of charitable giving by celebrities on the personal public relations

This study examined how charitable giving by entertainment celebrities influences celebrity personal public relations. Survey participants showed positive attitudes toward charitable giving. Attitudes toward charitable giving positively influenced celebrity credibility perception. Credibility also influenced attitudes toward the celebrities, which in turn positively influenced the purchase intention of their performance. Also, attitudes toward charitable donations were positively associated with attitudes toward the celebrities. Scholars and practitioners need to note charitable giving as an efficient and strategic personal public relations factor and method.     

The influence of religiosity on charitable behavior: A COPPS investigation

We examine the role of religion in charitable giving and find that the religious preference of both the donor and the recipient organization influence giving behavior. By exploiting a panel survey of charitable giving, we demonstrate that traditional empirical analysis on charitable giving masks important differences among donor groups. Religious giving by religious individuals is least responsive to changes in price and income, while secular giving by secular individuals has the greatest sensitivity.     

The regulation of American foundations: Looking backward at the Tax Reform Act of 1969

The American Tax Reform Act of 1969 represented a major watershed in the law of philanthropy, introducing a new classification scheme —one that sharply distinguished between ‘private foundations’ and other charitable organisations- and, for the private foundation category, a new regulatory system, new regulatory sanctions, a new tax on investment income and new restricitons on the deductibility of property gifts. After briefly tracing the origins of this legislation, the paper sets forth five norms that should characterise the legislative process, and proceeds to explore, albeit in abbreviated fashion, the extent to which each of these norms was respected by the Congress in 1969. The paper then turns from an examination of regulatory principles to a consideration of regulatoryimpacts, dealing with several ways in which the 1969 Act appears to have caused diversion of resources, including: diversion of charitable giving from foundations to non-foundation charities (with consequences for the ‘birthrate’ of foundations); diversion of resources from charitable to non-charitable uses; diversion of funds from charitable channels to the US Treasury; and a diversion of resources from certain grantees to others. The mitigating effects of recent forms of deregulation are described, followed by the suggestion that more deregulation is desirable, in order to sustain the health and strength of America's private foundation sector. This paper has its origins in a talk (never published) that was given at a conference entitledTwenty Years Under the 1969 Act: Private Foundations 1969–1989, held on 2 May 1989 at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.     

The Philanthropic Poor: In Search of Explanations for the Relative Generosity of Lower Income Households

In this study we investigate the relationship between income and charitable giving. Previous research shows inconsistent findings regarding both the effect of income on the probability of giving and the proportion of income spent on charitable giving. We test hypotheses with the Giving in The Netherlands Panel Study 2003 (N = 1,316). We do not find an effect of income on the probability of giving, but a consistent negative effect of income on both total and religious donations as a proportion of income. This effect cannot be explained by stronger religious affiliation of lower income groups, or by other differences such as age, and price of giving. We find evidence in favor of a giving standard: Norms concerning the level of donations in specific situations that people in different income groups share, leading lower income groups to donate a higher proportion of their income.

CHARITY WITHOUT ALTRUISM

In this paper charity is considered as a strategic selfish activity that increases the welfare of the contributors without altruism. The model supposes the interactive simultaneous utility maximization of two consumer groups, contributors and recipients, who share fhe same utility function but differ in their incomes. It is shown that such charity can act to promote economic efficiency up to the Pareto optimal level. Conditions under which charitable contributions will emerge and their scale are derived, and the limiting cases of the maximum joy of giving and the maximum benifit from receiving contributions are presented.     

Some thoughts on the validity of estimates of charitable giving

There is but a single source of widely-accepted estimates of charitable giving in the United States, and that isGiving USA, an annual publication of the AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy. This paper examines the validity of those estimates and raises questions that imply a need for further research in this area.Despite the improvements in the quality of the estimates over the years, there remain conceptual, empirical and procedural problems of which all users of the numbers should be aware. The conceptual problems are largely a matter of definition, and it is argued that grants by private foundations should be excluded from the total because foundations themselves are charitable recipients of funds from the rest of society and their inclusion results in double-counting. The empirical problems arise from defects in much of the data from the tax files that are used as sources of information for making the final estimates; some of those defects are spelled out in detail. The procedural problems stem from the lack of comprehensive information about the amounts of charitable giving from individual donors; in making its estimates,Giving USA relies primarily on an econometric equation, some of the variables in which are questionable.     

The Effects of Nonprofit Reputation on Charitable Giving: A Survey Experiment

A nonprofit’s reputation is a crucial intangible asset that can bring significant benefits to the organization. Using a multidimensional framework, this study tested the effects of three dimensions of nonprofit reputation—financial efficiency, media visibility, accreditation status—on charitable giving behavior. The findings of this 2 × 2 × 2 full-factorial survey experiment show that each of the reputation dimensions has a significant individual effect on giving behavior. Furthermore, financial efficiency and accreditation status have an interaction effect on giving behavior. The findings also demonstrate the cross-level interaction between financial efficiency and the real-life giving behavior of individuals and between accreditation and the real-life volunteering behavior. This study provides implications for our understanding of the components of nonprofit reputation and their impact on charitable giving.

     

Conditioning effect of prior reputation on perception of corporate giving

Prior corporate reputation, one responsibility of a public relations department, affects public perceptions toward corporate philanthropic messages and ultimately affects public attitudes toward the company. Using an experiment that emulates the sort of news consumption individuals normally undertake, participants inferred corporate charitable giving as a mutually beneficial activity when a company had a good reputation (H1a). Participants inferred corporate charitable giving as a self-interested activity when the company had a bad reputation (H1b). Also, public inference (suspicion) successfully mediated corporate prior reputation on public attitude toward the company (H2). Participants showed positive attitude toward the company when they inferred the company had an altruistic motive for charitable giving (H3a). However, participants showed negative attitude toward the company when they inferred the company had a self-interested motive for charitable giving (H3b).     

Prayer and Charitable Behavior

Abstract

I propose a theoretical framework to understand how prayer influences charitable volunteering and financial giving. Drawing on work from symbolic interaction and cognitive psychology, I argue that individuals’ concepts of divine others become more cognitively accessible during the act of prayer. Because most people attribute the characteristics of omniscience and the desire for humans to help others to divine others, people are more likely to help known and unknown others the more cognitively accessible divine other concepts are to them. This lead to the prediction that frequency of prayer will be positively and linearly association with the frequency of volunteering, frequency of giving money to charity, and amount of money given to charity in a year. Using data from the General Social Survey, I find evidence for my argument. Frequency of prayer is positively and linearly associated with these charitable behaviors, even after controlling for other religiosity and sociodemographic variables.