GivingTuesday And Beyond: How Women Are Driving A Culture Of Giving

Debra Mesch in Forbes, Director, Women’s Philanthropy Institute

Coming off of a record-breaking $274 million raised on #GivingTuesday 2017 (a 55% increase over the amount raised in 2016), it’s clear that people are motivated to give this time of year. And while both women and men actively participate in philanthropy around the holidays, a new report from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute (WPI) at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, which does extensive research on the intersection between gender and giving, finds that women are leading the charge.

Analyzing more than 20 months of data, researchers at WPI found that women – who gave 51% of overall donations throughout that period – contributed 63% of the donations on #GivingTuesday 2016. The new study, Gender Differences in GivingTuesday Participation, found that giving among both women and men spikes on GivingTuesday and that, on average, men and women gave about the same amount. But, with more women than men making gifts on this day, women are making a greater impact on the causes that are near and dear to their hearts.

There are several reasons why women may be more likely than men to participate on GivingTuesday.

Women are asked for donations more often: Women are more likely to be actively solicited for donations in general, which can lead to a higher rate of giving on a day when more organizations and individuals are encouraging people to give.

Women are more likely to use social media: Social media campaigns are a big part of GivingTuesday’s success, so those with extensive online networks are more likely to be solicited for donations. Women use social media sites such as Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram more than men, and they use their cell phones to connect with these networks frequently throughout the day.

Women participate more in collaborative giving and distribute their giving more broadly: Recent WPI research found that women make up the majority of members of giving circles, a growing trend in collective philanthropy. Women also tend to distribute their philanthropic activities more broadly across the causes they care about.

Women volunteer more than men: Volunteers are the most likely individuals to give to charity, and women are more likely to volunteer than men. Women are also more inclined to give to organizations where they are able see the impact of their giving.

The trend of women driving charitable giving in this country reverberates far beyond GivingTuesday, and it’s causing fundraisers to think more seriously about how to engage women, not just to give but to influence the men in their lives to give, too.

WPI released another study earlier this year that looked at how women influence giving in their households. In Women Give 2017, researchers reaffirmed what many of us already know intuitively – that giving makes us happier. It turns out that when women give more money than they have previously, they experience a greater boost in satisfaction than men who give more. And perhaps more notably, the “joy of giving” isn’t limited to just women; when women are involved in the household’s decision to donate more of their income, the entire family is happier.

As we progress through the season of giving, these discoveries offer valuable insight on how couples and families can communicate about their charitable decisions and how organizations can best reach those who give. When nonprofit leaders are able to appreciate and adapt to the different ways that women and men derive happiness from giving, they can more effectively engage their donors, and donors will gain greater joy from their gifts.

When we explore gender differences in giving habits across causes and seasons, one thing is clear. Whether they are fueling the latest trend in giving, playing a more influential role in their family’s philanthropic decisions, or simply giving more to charity, women are a serious driving force behind philanthropy in the United States.

Content and image source credit: https://www.forbes.com/sites/break-the-future/2017/12/20/givingtuesday-and-beyond-how-women-are-driving-a-culture-of-giving/#26037f7e74cf & Women’s Philanthropy Institute