Print: The Chronicle, 12/29/2006: 83% of Americans Donated to Charity in the Past Year, Poll Finds

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83% of Americans Donated to Charity in the Past Year, Poll Finds

Eighty-three percent of American adults say they have contributed to a charity during the past 12 months, although their average donations fell to $1,220 from $1,352 in 2005, according to a new Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive Personal Finance Poll.

Donors were most likely to give to religious charities (35 percent), followed by groups that seek to curb hunger (34 percent) and organizations that deal with health issues (31 percent). They were much less likely to contribute to disaster-relief charities in 2006 (27 percent) than in 2005 (49 percent) — a decline the pollsters attributed to the shift of attention away from Hurricane Katrina victims.

"In 2005, this was the No. 1 crisis facing the nation and the media exposure given to Hurricane Katrina and subsequent relief efforts had a major impact on the public's support to related charities," Natalie Jobity, vice president of financial services research for Harris Interactive, said in a statement.

The share of donors jumped the most from 2005 to 2006 for groups helping people with health problems (from 22 percent to 31 percent), the homeless (19 percent to 26 percent) and the hungry (28 percent to 35 percent).

The online poll, which surveyed 2,939 people in early December, was conducted for The Wall Street Journal Online by Harris Interactive, a market research company. Of those who donated to charity in the past year, the poll found:

Seventy-six percent give to charity because "it's the right thing to do," with only a trickle of people citing employer encouragement (6 percent), news-media attention (2 percent), or pressure at fund-raising events (2 percent). Only 15 percent are motivated by tax write-offs, although the percentage rises to 26 percent of those earning more than $75,000 a year.

Forty-four percent planned to made a donation specifically for the holiday season on behalf of themselves or their family, while 9 percent said they would do do in someone else's name.

Only a small minority of those who contributed to charity during the past year have ever donated using nontraditional means such as a donor-advised fund (8 percent), a bequest (4 percent), or a gift of stock (3 percent).

A report on the poll is available on Harris Interactive Web site