Episode 79: How Elections Influence Charitable Giving

Research has found that charitable donors who also give to political campaigns are more generous than donors who don’t give to political campaigns. But how do elections impact charitable giving overall, and what effect does gender have?

In today’s episode, we’ll hear from Jacqueline Ackerman, assistant director for Research and Partnerships at the Women's Philanthropy Institute at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Listen to the episode to hear about the key findings of the Institute’s research, which types of organizations saw a spike in giving after the 2016 U.S. election, and how women and men give differently – and what that means for how nonprofits should target donors.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• Research that the Women’s Philanthropy Institute has done into giving from a gender perspective
• Key findings of research relating to the 2016 election in the U.S.
• Why giving immediately following the election was lower than expected across charitable organizations overall
• The difference between giving to progressive organizations generally and progressive organizations that were relevant to election issues.
• The differences between women’s and men’s giving following the election
• How organizations can think about and apply the data from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute’s research

Resources:

Jacqueline Ackerman

Women's Philanthropy Institute

Charitable Giving Around the 2016 Election: Does Gender Matter?

Infographic: Charitable Giving Around the 2016 Election: Does Gender Matter? - 

Notable Quotes:

“Our third key finding is that charitable giving after the 2016 election increased significantly for these relevant progressive charities.”

“What we tried to do was piece out the election effect from the typical end-of-the-year increase in giving that we would see anyway.”

“We know that women and men are motivated differently. Women tend to give to help others, men tend to focus on the benefits they accrue from giving.”