What motivates an individual to give time and/or money to an organization?  This question has been studied in an assortment of ways by a variety of institutions over a number of years.  Data consistently points to educational attainment, increased wealth, and socio-demographic factors of age, marital status, gender, race, etc. as determinants of philanthropic giving.  A recent study conducted by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and Vanguard Charitable explored giving attitudes further by assessing intra-family connections across generations.  Their research found correlation between generational family relationships as another determinant of philanthropic contributions.

The 2016 report A Tradition of Giving summarizes this research in several interesting bullet points:

• Parents’ decisions to give to charity influence their children’s decisions to give; parents who give are more likely to have children who give.
• Parent volunteering has a two-fold impact on children; parents who volunteer have children who volunteer and give.
• While the philanthropic priorities of parents and their children are more closely matched than those of grandparents and grandchildren, grandparents still influence giving.
• Overall giving by parents who are closer in age to their children has a stronger influence on their children’s overall giving than overall giving by parents who are further in age from their children.
• Overall giving by parents from intact families who had not experienced a marital transition has a stronger influence on their children’s overall giving than overall giving by parents from families where a marital transition had occurred.
• Overall giving by parents who spent time helping their children at all within the previous year has a stronger influence on their children’s overall giving than parents who did not spend time helping their children.

Furthermore, parents’ talking to children about charitable giving has a greater impact on children’s giving than role-modeling alone, a report from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy finds.

In short, if you desire to raise charitable children, your giving behavior has a direct influence.

To learn more about how you can make a multi-generational difference in Rush County, contact us!  We’re happy to share ways you can become involved as a volunteer and/or donor.  For more information on the Rush County Community Foundation, visit our website at www.rushcountyfoundation.org.  For the full A Tradition of Giving report, visit www.philanthropy.iupui.edu.