More and more Americans have stopped donating to charities because of the bad economy, and many do not feel any personal responsibility to be involved with efforts to make the world a better place, a new survey has found.
The percentage of people who said they are not making any charitable donations doubled to 12 percent this year, up from 6 percent in 2009, according to an online survey by Harris Interactive of 2,620 adults conducted in September.
A third of Americans said they were willing to get “extremely involved” or “give generously” to charities, but 13 percent said they give neither time nor money.
Many of those who do give said they are contributing smaller amounts (31 percent) and to fewer organizations (19 percent) this year. Eleven percent said they are volunteering more this year than last year, when only 9 percent volunteered.
Just a quarter of those surveyed said they felt some responsibility to improve the world they live in, versus 31 percent who felt the same way in 2007, when the question was last asked.
Nearly four out of ten surveyed use social-networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, to follow a cause online and take action. A majority in this group, 54 percent, said they have talked to a friend or a family member about an organization after following it on a social network, and a third have contacted an elected official. In addition, three out of ten have donated to such an organization, while 23 percent have donated to a cause the organization supports or have attended one of its events.
One Response to A Growing Number of Americans Don’t Give to Charity, Poll Finds
lorihope - November 9, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Thanks for this, Raymund. Thought you and especially your readers would want to know about an alternative to giving time or money this holiday season. GreatNonprofits, which I think of as the “Yelp of nonprofits”, has launched the new “Give a Gift of a Review” campaign. It can take as few as five minutes to write a powerful review of a charity that you volunteer for or that has helped you or someone you know.
I’m a former editor who consults to GreatNonprofits and other nonprofits and socially responsible companies, and think this is an idea that so many of us would appreciate hearing about. As a cancer survivor who has felt the sting of the recession, I plan on writing reviews of the orgs that have helped me most. I know the orgs can leverage the reviews in their fundraising materials – and/or social media – to raise more support.
Thanks again for posting this and if you’re interested in following up with Perla Ni, GreatNonprofits’s executive director (and founder of the Stanford Social Innovation Review), you can reach her through her marketing director, emma.bundy@greatnonprofits.org.