Charitable Giving: What Makes a Person Generous?

The motivations and demographics in the highest giving individuals is not very clear. What are characteristics of generous people? Available literature shows that charitable giving arises from a complexity of motives, attitudes, and demographic attributes. Some may give out of altruism, while others give out of egoism. Examining two groups of individual household data--those below the 1.2% medianpercentage of household income given to charity, and those above it, results showed that belonging to a religious congregation had the greatest impact on charitablegiving, followed by whether they volunteered within the past year. Other variables suchas home ownership, marital status, and education also had positive effects on charitable giving. Variables most closely linked to higher income had the strongest influence on charitable giving. This analysis should help executives at nonprofits seeking to increase funding identify ways to distinguish existing and potential donors that are likely to give more than average. To encourage increased donor activity, policymakers can encourage volunteering and civic engagement.