A study released Wednesday by Fidelity Charitable shows how the pandemic bolstered many donors' generosity.
Women have long been active and engaged in charitable giving. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, 75% of women said giving back was an important part of their lives, compared with 69% of men who said this. That number increased to 84% last year.
For men in the study, the increase was even more dramatic, up 12 percentage points to 81%, putting them nearly on par with women.
In addition, 43% of men said they gave considerably more to charity in 2020 than they had the previous year, compared with 34% of women who did so.
The study found that young women were particularly moved by the pandemic. Half of millennial women said the crisis had made charitable giving a bigger priority in their lives, compared with 31% of their Generation X and 25% of their baby boomer counterparts.
Eighty-six percent of women in the study said they wish they could do more to create positive social change. They participated in many giving activities at higher rates than men, including volunteerism.
More women than men made non-financial gifts, bought from socially responsible businesses or donated through social media or online giving platforms. Women were also likelier than men to rank either hunger, access to basic health services or access to shelter or affordable housing as one of the top challenges facing the world.
"Women will continue to lead charitable giving decisions in many households, but the innate desire to make a difference in the world is more apparent than ever in all donors," Fidelity Charitable's president, Pamela Norley, said in a statement. "Men and women still engage in giving very differently, and there are ways that women can do even more."
Artemis Strategy Group conducted a research study about donor motivations and behaviors in March 2020, surveying 3,055 adults in the U.S. who had donated at least $1,000 to charity in 2019. A follow-up survey in January among 830 people in the U.S. who had donated at least $1,000 to charity in 2020 detected shifts in donor thinking due to the events of that year.
Charitable Opportunities for Women
Even though women participated in many giving activities at higher rates, they were less likely than men to be aware of or engage in many financial strategies that could facilitate greater impact.
