DDB

Life Style Study: The Gift of Giving

With the major gift-giving holidays on the near horizon, attention is increasingly focused
on shopping for and giving gifts. As such, we thought it timely to consider another type
of giving that many Americans engage in throughout the year one that speaks more to
generosity of spirit. Using data from the DDB Life Style Study, we looked at the gift of
giving giving money, goods, and time to charitable organizations.

Our data indicates that 72% of US adults* are givers, meaning they have donated
money or goods to a charity in the past year. Women are significantly more likely to be
givers than men (53% v. 47%). Age also influences giving, with 46% of givers under the
age of 45 and 54% of givers over the age of 45.

Among those who give, 74% prefer to give to smaller charities rather than giving to big
national charities and 67% prefer to donate to charities that focus their efforts in the
United States rather than abroad. Further, 58% allocate a certain amount of money to
donate each year, and this excludes money earmarked as their offering to a place of
worship.

In addition to being generous with money or goods, those who donate to charitable
organizations are also much more likely to give the gift of their time. 47% of givers
volunteered at least once in the past year and 38% self-describe as actively involved as a
volunteer for at least one organization. Ones highest level of education completed is
directly related to how likely a person is to volunteer, with the likelihood of donating
ones time to a cause growing significantly greater with increasingly higher levels of
education completed.

While the generosity of individuals who donate is admirable, givers also admire the
philanthropic efforts of businesses. In fact, 49% of givers say they make a special effort
to buy from companies that support causes that are important to them. An equal
number would patronize more often those companies that support local charities, while
31% say they would more often patronize those companies that support national
charities. Finally, 51% indicate they are willing to pay a little more for a brand that
supports social causes that are important to them.

Not surprisingly, givers exhibit strong caregiver personality traits versus those who dont
give. Their altruism is evident across a range of measures we track. They are significantly
more likely to say they find fulfillment through giving to others (78% v. 57%), they put
the needs of others before their own (68% v. 58%) and even find it easier to do for
others than for themselves (62% v. 52%).


At a time of year when it is easy to be swept up in the commercialization of the
season, says Denise Delahorne, SVP Group Strategy Director at DDB Worldwide, it is
heartening that the majority of Americans exhibit a generous spirit.


*Sample sizes for data reported:
Givers

n=4499
Non-Givers
n=1765