Parents’ giving associated with giving behaviors of offspring Mark Wilhelm (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis-IUPUI), Eleanor Brown (Pomona College), Patrick Rooney (IUPUI), and Richard Steinberg (IUPUI) reported strong connections in the amount given to religion by parents and their adult children. 28 That is, the giving of adult children is closely related to how much their parents give to religion. There is also a relationship between parental giving to religion and their

children’s giving to non-religious (secular) causes, but it is not as strong. The authors also argue that tax policies that promote more giving will be more likely to help younger generations learn about generosity and giving than will tax policies that reduce giving.

Key findings from annual studies Table 1 presents three years of data from studies released regularly about giving by individuals. Web site addresses are provided so readers may access complete reports.

 

Table 2
Key findings from studies of giving

Percentage who give and volunteer in an ongoing study
of a nationally representative sample of the general population

Center on Philanthropy Panel Study

A module of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics

2000 2002 2004 (most recent available)

66. 8 68. 5 70. 2

$2,368 $2,248 $2,333

Percentage who give Average donation amount (2008 dollars) Percentage of heads of household who volunteer (does not include all volunteers, only heads of household interviewed) Percentage of heads of household who give and volunteer

25. 3

26. 7

28. 1

22. 1

23. 4

24. 9

Direct mail Major gifts Special events Internet Telephone

Percentage reporting success by fundraising tactic
Philanthropic Giving Index
(selected tactics)
2006 2007 2008
64 66 61
83 87 73
67 70 69
30 36 33
34 39 46