Study Says Women the Primary Decision Makers in Giving

Women in rich households are having more of a say in family decisions about giving to charities, according to a study released this week.

The study of High Net Worth Women’s Philanthropy showed that in nearly 90 percent of high net worth households, women are either the sole decision maker or an equal partner in decisions about charitable giving.

According to a release by the researchers, key findings of the study include:

• Women spend more time than men on due diligence before making decisions about giving to a charitable organisation.
• Women expect a deeper level of communication with the organisations they support and place greater importance than men on the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation and hearing about the impact of their gift.
• Women want to be actively involved with an organisation and its mission, with volunteering being among the most important motivations for women to give.
• Women are more likely than men to stop giving to an organisation they had previously supported whereas men tend to support the same causes year after year.

The report also found that:

• Women were more strategic in their giving with 78 percent creating an annual giving strategy and/or budget compared to 72 percent of men.
• Women want to see the impact they are having on an organisation. According to the study when making a gift, women (80 percent) more so than men (68 percent) expect that the nonprofit will advise them on how the gift is used, and that the organisation will share with them the positive impact their gift has made (women: 45 percent, men: 26 percent).
• Women are more confident in Not for Profits ability to solve societal and global problems.
• If women are hassled too often to make donations they will cease to give. Women (49 percent) are more likely than men (41 percent) to stop giving to an organisation they previously supported – with “too frequent solicitation/asked for inappropriate amount” cited. Other reasons include their household circumstances having changed (women: 31 percent, men: 28 percent) and/or that the organisation changed leadership or activities (29 percent for both).

The study, which began in 2006, was undertaken by Bank of America Merrill Lynch in partnership with The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.