Study finds charitable giving remains stagnant

Charitable giving in the United States has remained stagnant in the past 40 years.

This continues to be true despite the number of natural disasters tripling and the number of armed conflicts nearly doubling, according to a report released Friday by two IU professors.

Jen Shang, the world’s only philanthropic psychologist and assistant professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and Adrian Sargeant, the Robert F. Hartsook chair in fundraising at the Center on Philanthropy, co-authored “Growing Philanthropy in the United States.”

Their report is based on existing research and topics discussed at the Growing Philanthropy Summit in June in Washington, D.C.

“The purpose of the summit is to revolutionize how, why and what people get out of the giving experience,” Shang said. “The interest is not necessarily their money that they need to give but what the giving experience means to them as a person.”

Shang said a goal of the summit is to develop a long-term plan to double or triple the percentage of household giving, which is currently about 2 percent of average household disposable income.

The report is organized into four categories: Enhancing the Quality of Donor Relationships, Developing Public Trust and Confidence, Identifying New Audiences, Channels and Forms of Giving with Strong Potential for Growth and Improving the Quality of Fundraising and Development.

After the report was released, sponsors of the summit sent surveys to the 30 participants to see which task forces they were interested in leading or being involved in to develop and implement plans to achieve their goals.

“Because (charitable giving) hasn’t changed for 40 years, it takes a lot to accomplish that kind of goal,” Shang said.

“It is first and foremost a problem in education in the sense that fundraisers need to be better equipped with knowledge and understanding individuals,” she said.

— Kate Thacker