Women More Likely to Give : Report

Women are significantly more likely than men to give to almost every type of charitable cause, and for other causes they are just as likely to give as their male counterparts, according to a US report. 

Flickr image: Some rights reserved by ellenantill

Causes Women Support, the second release of findings from the Women Give 2010 report by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute (WPI) at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, examines differences between make and female single-headed households across 11 types of charitable causes.

The study found that the women’s likelihood of giving exceeded that for men in 8 of the 11 causes: religious institutions; organisations that help the needy; combined purposes (such as United Way, United Jewish Appeal, Catholic Charities or community foundations); health care and medical research, education, youth & family, community, and international organisations.

For the three other categories of causes – arts and cultural organisations, environmental Not for Profits and ‘Other’, women were as likely as men to give.

Dr. Debra Mesch, the director of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute says clearly gender matters in philanthropy, and that while women and men are both engaged in philanthropy, their giving priorities are different.

The study found that women are 50 percent more likely to support international and community causes than men, making this the biggest difference in giving between the genders. However the study also found less than 6 percent of both men and women support these causes.

The study found that females are:

• 55 percent more likely than males to give to international causes;
• 51 percent more likely to give to community;
• 42 percent more likely to give to religious institutions; 38 percent more likely to give to health care;
• 32 percent more likely to give to youth & family;
• 31 percent more likely to give to education;
• 18 percent more likely to help people in need;
• and 14 percent more likely to give for combined purposes.

Women Give 2010 compares philanthropic giving between men and women using data from the Center on Philanthropy Panel Study (COPPS), the largest US study that tracks giving patterns among US households.

Pro Bono Australia News reported in October that the initial findings of the survey found that women across virtually every income level are more likely to give to charity and to give more money on average than their male counterparts.

Previous studies of gender and philanthropy have relied on data related to giving by households and married couples, making the effects of gender on giving difficult to identify.

Both reports are available at: www.philanthropy.iupui.edu/womengive