or technology organizations, and no gifts were reported to libraries.

Investors and entrepreneurs who tended to give to foundations were less likely to give to education than were donors whose wealth came from other sources.

Research focusing on differences
in giving by generation
Work appeared in 2008 reporting
differences in giving by people in dif-
ferent generations and in motivations
for giving. This section summarizes
findings from two of these studies.

Motivations identified for charitable
giving vary for Millennials (born
since 1981)

In a study conducted for Campbell & Co., the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University analyzed differences in motivations for giving by people of different generations. 17 Among the key findings (age ranges noted in the figure):

The probability of giving to secular causes varied by generation. The Silent generation was more likely to give to secular causes than younger generations. For Boomers and later generations, there were no statistically significant differences in the probability of giving to religion or to secular causes, once controlling for income, age, marital status, frequency of attendance at worship services, and education level.

Millennial donors were most likely to be motivated by a desire to make the world a better place.

Millennials were less likely than earlier generations to identify the

desire to control how their money is spent as a motivation for giving.

In looking at the total giving reported by donors in each generation, the report found that Millennials gave slightly less than 60 percent of their total to religion. In contrast, nearly 22 percent of this generation’s giving went to “umbrella” causes (United Way, Salvation Army, and other organizations providing a multiplicity of services). Millennials gave a larger share of total giving to international affairs organizations and a lower share to helping meet people’s basic needs than did earlier generations. Figure 3 shows the allocation of all dollars contributed by type of recipient by generation.

Among Millennials, the nearly 22 percent of dollars going to “umbrella charities” is a result of a high average gift ($404) for that type of recipient. Millennials gave comparatively less than earlier generations to most other types of charities; this is a combination of lower participation rates and lower average gifts. However, in international giving, Millennials contributed a larger share ( 2. 8 percent) than did donors in other generations.

One report hypothesizes that
Boomers’ concern for financial
security undermines their giving
In research unrelated to the study for
Campbell & Company, direct marketing
experts Roger Craver and Tom Belford
found that in 2007–2008, Boomers
gave an average of $1,081, compared
with average gifts of $1,542 from people
in earlier generations and $1, 205 from
later generations. 18 Mr. Craver and