Gender difference in charity

Quazi Saleh Mustanzir :

Who is more charitable- man or woman- is still a debatable issue.

Researchers found that women are more charitable than men in terms of altruistic and prosocial behavior and more helpful than men in relation to friends, families and strangers.

Affiliation with the organization is another concern for women to donate; they prefer to contribute to organizations with which they are involved.

Women tend to choose education and human services charities while men will pick up sports or recreational groups to make their charitable contribution.

Women are found to be responsive to the call of donation for helping others whereas men are to those areas that will yield personal benefits.

Women tend to employ the heart more than the head in giving.

Women like to work voluntarily for organizations assisting needy people, children and youths whereas men like to involve themselves in risk-taking enterprises.

Men tend to affiliate themselves to secular voluntary organizations whereas women are likely to link themselves with religious ones.

Women tend to give to an organization with a single purpose and during an organizational crisis; they take more time to know the organization well before they make a decision for donation.

Gender differences in charitable giving also vary from country to country.

A study paper titled ‘Gender differences in volunteering and charitable giving in Europe” of Wiepking and Einolf (2012) reveals that women in Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, and men in Greece, Ireland, Poland and Slovenia are more likely to donate money to charities whereas no substantial gender difference was found for some other 13 countries experimented.

Women are helpful by nature, and are moved easily by any emotional stroke.

This particular attribute of women makes them more likely to contribute to any charitable organizations that aim at helping the needy and the distressed.

On the other hand, men want to get a return from their contribution that is deemed to be an investment.

They want to get recognition in the form of name, fame or various tangible benefits from the contribution they made.

Compared to women, men enjoy much more social and human capital that enable them to earn more and be well placed in the society.

With the predominant quality of helpfulness, women were found involved in charitable works more than men in every respect.

But the social and human capitals that men have in plenty push them to go beyond the extent of women’s overall contribution.

As a third or independent sector of our economy, the nonprofit sector which includes NGOs, educational and religious institutions, social and recreational groups, health and human services etc. is playing a leading role in providing a variety of public services to our community.

In order to build financial resources for their operations, nonprofits have to rely on various sources of funding such as fees and charges, government grants, earned income, institutional and private giving etc.

However, in recent times nonprofits are turning to private and individual giving due to the paucity of government funding.

But these private and individual donations or volunteer services are gender sensitive.

A majority of the research conducted around the world indicates that there exists a gender difference in charitable contributions and volunteer activities.

Men and women have distinctive and different motivational factors that drive them to give their time and money for charitable causes.

Therefore, the fundraisers must take these motivational factors in men and women into cognizance, and align them with their organizational goals and objectives for a robust collection.

But why do people give their hard-earned money and invaluable time to nonprofit organizations? Vesterlund (2006) in his article ‘Why do people give?’ argues that people give in order to get benefits that may be either public or private.

He states that people are not always concerned about the output of the organizations they donate to; sometimes they give to get some private benefits such as recognition, welcome, free tickets to events, naming any establishment after them, access to certain circle, reputation, prestige, social equality, avoiding criticism, alleviation of guilt etc.; sometimes they find giving as a way to pay back to the society that made them fortunate.

Some researchers found these motivations to be present in men and women to varying degrees creating gender differences in charitable contribution and volunteer works.

Therefore, a good understanding of the gender differences in charitable giving and volunteering will help the fundraisers approach men and women differently and persuasively.

The discussion above suggests that the men and women differ from each other in their choice of charitable giving.

That is to say the psyche, motives and behavior patterns of women differ from those of men with regard to charitable contribution.

If you want to approach them for collecting donations you have to understand and analyze their psychological difference thoroughly.

Your success in fundraising will depend on the appropriate strategy you take based on the difference of choices in men and women in charitable giving.

Therefore, a deep insight into the gender difference in charitable giving will help the fundraisers to pursue men and women differently for collecting donations or receiving volunteer services from them.

(The writer is a Deputy Secretary at Planning Commission, Dhaka).