Do Women Give More?
FINDINGS FROM THREE UNIQUE DATA SETS ON CHARITABLE GIVING
How do age and income level aect giving by
single men and women?
• Consistent with prior research, single women are
more likely than single men to give to charity. Single
women donors on average give higher dollar amounts
to charity than single men.
• Divorced/separated, never-married, and widowed
women are more likely to give, and give higher
amounts, than their male counterparts.
• As women’s incomes rise, they become more likely to
give to charity than their male counterparts. For the
top 60 percent of income earners, women are more
likely to give, and give more, to secular causes than
their male counterparts.
• Millennial, Boomer, and older (Silent/Greatest
Generation) women are more likely to give in general
and to secular causes than their male counterparts.
• High net worth single women and single men do not
signicantly dier in their likelihood or amount of
giving – either in total giving, or in giving to religious
or secular causes.
How does marriage impact giving among men
and women?
• Being married increases both the likelihood of giving
and the amount of giving, regardless of gender.
• Single women are more likely to give to secular
causes, and give more to those causes, compared to
both single men and married couples.
• Among high net worth households, being married
does not signicantly aect whether or not people
give to charity. However, married couples do tend to
give higher amounts overall as well as specically to
secular causes, compared to single men and single
women.
How does household decision-making style
inuence charitable giving?
• Households where the husband solely decides
about the family’s charitable giving are the most
likely household types to give to religious causes;
households where spouses decide separately about
charitable giving are least likely to give to these
causes. Households where the wife solely decides and
households where spouses make separate decisions
about their giving tend to give lower amounts to
religious causes.
• Wife-only and separate-deciding households are more
likely to give to secular causes. Compared to joint
deciders, only separate deciders give higher amounts
on average to secular causes.
• Decision-making style does not aect the incidence
of giving in high net worth households. When either
the wife or husband is a sole decision maker, the
amount of giving for religious purposes is lower than
for jointly-deciding households.
Understanding individual and group characteristics is key to understanding why and how people give
to charity. Previous research on gender and philanthropy has shown that women and men tend to
have dierent patterns of giving. This study adds to the literature by investigating how factors such
as marital status, age, education, and income level aect giving by men and women.
This study explores gender dierences in the likelihood and amount of charitable giving – in other
words, it looks at whether or not a person gives to charity, and then for donors, how much is given in
dollar terms. By using three unique data sets, this study further investigates topics from previous
research, helping to reframe or conrm the results. This study also examines new questions – both
broadening and focusing how people understand the role of gender in charitable giving.
KEY FINDINGS
How do husbands’ and wives’ incomes and
educational levels inuence giving in the
household?
• The impact of husbands’ and wives’ incomes
varies based on education and where they are on the
income spectrum. However, in the general population,
a husband having unearned income (from trusts or
investments) makes it signicantly more likely that a
household will give to charity, whereas a wife having
unearned income has no signicant impact on
whether the household donates.
• A husband’s or wife’s income seems to matter
dierently for dierent causes. An increase in the
husband’s income tends to increase the likelihood
and amount of giving to nearly every subsector; an
increase in the wife’s income tends to increase the
likelihood of giving to education, environment, and
basic needs organizations.
• A husband’s or a wife’s respective income does not
aect whether or not high net worth households give.
The high net worth husband’s income is positively
related to the amount of giving from the household,
both overall and to secular causes.
• Generally, dierences in education between husband
and wife do not impact the incidence or amount of
giving, for either the general population or the high
net worth sample.
METHODS
The information used in this study comes primarily
from two surveys on charitable giving: a
comprehensive national survey of charitable giving
(the Philanthropy Panel Study) and a study that
focuses on high net worth households (the Bank
of America/U.S. Trust Studies of High Net Worth
Philanthropy). The study also draws from a
database of publicly available data on million
dollar-plus charitable donations from U.S. donors
(the Million Dollar List), which helps provide
additional information on large gifts.
Unless otherwise specied, all key ndings listed
are for the general population, obtained from
Philanthropy Panel Study data.
SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPLICATIONS
This study, by using multiple data sets and
analyzing a variety of demographic factors,
contributes to a more vibrant picture of how
changes in American households aect giving,
and explains how and why men and women give
dierently in a deeper and more detailed way.
Not all women are the same, and neither are all
men. When research examines subgroups as divided
by age, income, and education and as aected by
marital status, it discovers dierences, which can be
small or dramatic. Research and fundraising
strategies that ignore these dierences are missing
out on an important facet of what aects how and
why people give. Paying heed to the dierences
noted in this study will support a better
understanding of giving.
This summary was prepared by Kathryn Tolley, WPI Graduate
Assistant, December 2016
This research was completed
with funding from the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation. The
ndings and conclusions
contained within are those of
the authors and do not
necessarily reect ocial
positions or policies of the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Note: The full report, released September
2015, is available online at:
https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/institutes/
womens-philanthropy-institute/research/
gender-giving.html
wpiinfo@iupui.edu /womensphilanthropyinstitute @WPIinsights phialnthropy.iupui.edu/institutes/womensphilanthropy-institute
Note: The full report, released September 2015,
is available online at:
https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/GenderGiving