New Research Comparing High Net Women and Men's Giving

The Center on Philanthropy released in December 2011 new research they conducted on high net worth women's philanthropy for Bank of America and Merrill Lynch.  For years Martha Taylor and I have been conducting qualitative research with thousands of women donors and listening to their stories, and are thrilled that this new quantitative research from the Center backs up and furthers our over twenty years of work.

For the study, high net worth was identified as household income greater than $200,000 a year and/or net worth (excluding primary residence) of at least $1,000,000

The study also included women from the Red Cross Tiffany Circle, a network of women leaders and philanthropists that give $10,000 or more annually to their local Red Cross.

There were a great many interesting results and those we found most meaningful to nonprofits and others seeking to appeal to women as donors were:

• Women want to know their gift will make a difference
• Women want to see the impact their gift makes
• Women want to volunteer and to become involved
• Giving circles provide a powerful new way for women to give
• Women have more confidence than men in nonprofits ability to solve domestic or global problems
• Couple giving is largely influenced by women
• Education receives the highest amount of women's giving
• Women are more strategic in their giving than men
• Women are more likely than men to stop giving to an organization
• Only 20% of women sought advice from financial advisors

Women's philanthropy is indeed a global movement and we thank those involved in bringing this new and important research to the attention of everyone who wants to engage more women donors and see the results of women's involvement in helping solve today's crucial issues.