3 Takeaways From GivingTuesday’s New GivingPulse Report

Understanding donor behavior has become an important part of fundraising as the number of donors and the total amount of donations have experienced downward trends recently. 

To get a quarterly look at how people are being generous, GivingTuesday launched its new quarterly report, GivingPulse. Each week, 100 Americans are surveyed about their generous acts over the past week. That results in 1,200 people surveyed over the course of each quarter. 

GivingPulse tracked data that dates back to September 2022 and has discovered what affected giving in the third quarter of 2023. Here is a look at three takeaways from the research.

1. Three Generosity Levels Have Been Established

GivingPulse categorized survey respondents into three categories based on a variety of generosity indicators. Here’s a breakdown of some common traits among each group.

High Generosity

Those who tend to be highly generous plan ahead and prefer recurring donations. In the third quarter, this group’s members had an average age of 39, earning a salary of $69,000 to $107,000, with about half being highly religious. This group gave $2,000 to $2,500 on average over the past year.

Here are a few other findings about this group based on 2023’s third-quarter results:

• 40% participated in the 200-plus tracked behaviors and attitudes.
• 100% gave in some form (money, items, volunteering, advocacy and more).
• 98% were involved with a registered charity.
• 98% volunteered or advocated.
• 49% recently started to support a new charity.
• 53% participated in workplace giving (though that number fell from 82% in the fourth quarter of 2023).
• 59% reported financial strain, but that number fell significantly compared to the second quarter when 73% of respondents felt that way.

Medium Generosity

A middle level of generosity includes those who are more spontaneous with their giving.

This group consistently reports giving without being asked to do so at a higher rate than its high-generosity counterparts. 

“While we cannot draw direct links between spontaneity and resulting recipient type, broadly speaking, those who give spontaneously report giving on a peer-to-peer basis much more frequently and report giving money to registered nonprofits significantly less than those who do not report spontaneous giving,” the report indicated.

Researchers also concluded that the medium generosity group is likely solicited less frequently as its members are not on nonprofits’ lists.

“Indeed, when asked whether they agree with the statement, ‘There are so many reminders, solicitations, and publicity for giving to nonprofits in day-to day life,’ the percent of each group that agrees is consistent with the medium- and high-generosity groups being solicited more frequently: 90% of the high-generosity group agreed, compared to 86% of the medium-generosity group and only 74% of the low-generosity group,” the report noted.

For this group in the third quarter, respondents were 50 years old on average, earned between $59,000 to $92,000 and gave an average of $700 to $900 in the past year.

Here are a few other findings about this group based on 2023’s third-quarter results:

• 20% participated in the 200-plus tracked behaviors and attitudes.
• 100% gave in some form.
• 81% involved with a registered charity.

Low Generosity

The largest of the groups, the low-generosity level made up 52% of those surveyed in the third quarter, but is considered even less involved in charitable acts. Respondents that fell into this group are also aged 50 on average. Additionally, they earn slightly less than their medium generosity counterparts, with $54,000 to $86,000 average salaries. This group had the highest percentage of white respondents (75%) and gave between $400 and $500 on average over the past year.

• 11% participated in the 200-plus tracked behaviors and attitudes.
• 26% gave in some form.
• 39% generally trust nonprofits — the lowest percentage among the groups.

2. Giving Directly to Individuals Was More Common Than Giving to Nonprofits

Though giving cash directly to a person in need was the top choice among respondents in the third quarter of 2023, online giving directly to a nonprofit came in second with 22% of respondents reporting that activity. Checkout donations (21%), donation by check (19%) and cash donation at a live event (18%) rounded out the top five responses. 

Credit: GivingTuesday GivingPulse

3. Those Solicited Are More Likely to Give

Though this is not an outlandish concept, GivingPulse found that 56% of its respondents who had not given in the week prior to taking the survey in the third quarter of 2023 had not been asked to give in the past year or could not recall the last occurrence. On the contrary, 54% of those who had given in the past week had been asked to donate within the past month.

In addition, those who had not been solicited in the past year tended to be older, female, less religious and more likely to be unemployed or retired. They also typically had less disposable income and lower annual incomes.

Credit: GivingTuesday GivingPulse