Charitable Giving: a Preliminary Analysis of the Toledo, Ohio Jewish Donor Market

CHARITABLE GIVING: A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF THE TOLEDO, OHIO JEWISH DONOR MARKET

Alan B. Flaschner, The University of Toledo

Cary S. Kart, The University of Toledo

DEMOGRAPHICS

Table I describes some basic demographic characteristics of the sample population. Females dominated in the sample constituting 59.8 percent of those interviewed. Almost two-of-three respondents (67.1%) reported themselves as being 45 years of age or older -- fully one-third (33.2%) were 64 years of age or older. Average family size in the sample was 2.46. Two-thirds of the interviewees were married; 17.5 percent were widowed. Almost 40 percent (38.9".') of the females were in the labor force (full-time, part-time or self-employed) with 20.1 percent retired and 34.6 percent describing themselves as homemakers. The modal category of occupations for the females was "professional, technical." Eight-in-ten of the males were in the labor force with one- third being in professional or technical occupations. Median household income was $30,150; 32.5 percent of the households had income of $40.000 or more.

RELIGIOUS ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS

Table 2 shows selected religions attitudinal and behavioral data on the sample population. Almost 90 percent (89.5.) of the respondents reported being affiliated with a synagogue. Synagogue attendance was another matter. Less than one-third (32.4.) of males interviewed reported attending synagogue either regularly or frequently. The comparable figure f or female respondents was 36.7 percent. Virtually all respondents indicated memberships in one or more Jewish organizations; 67.1 percent were members of three or more Jewish organizations. A minority of males reported saying Kiddush regularly or frequently (38.0.); 46.4 percent of the adult females reported lighting Sabbath candles on a regular or frequent basis. Finally, each person interviewed was asked to indicate the strength of his or her religious beliefs. Virtually one-half (49.6.) of the respondents reported that their religious beliefs were strong; 14.0 percent indicated that these beliefs were not very strong at all.

TABLE 1

SELECTED DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SAMPLE POPULATION

TABLE 2

SELECTED RELIGIOUS ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS OF THE SAMPLE POPULATION

CHARITABLE GIVING: A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS

The key dependent variable in this study is the respondent's estimate of the household's total dollar contribution to charity during the past year (TOTCHR). Forty-four respondents (15.4%) refused to provide information on this item and were excluded from the analysis. Responses on TOTCHR were trichotomized into three approximately equal-sized groups: under $250 (N=81); $250 to $999 (N=1/5); and $1000 and over (N=86). A considerable array of the demographic, religious attitudinal and behavioral indicators described above were run against TOTCHR to test for statistical association. Most showed little or no statistical association with charitable giving. Thus, we limit our discussion to two variables: family income and memberships in Jewish organizations.

An easy and implicit hypothesis that Many fundraisers make is that people who have more income make more charitable contributions. Table 3 shows the result of a cross -tabu iat ion between family income (FAMINC) and TOTCHR in the Toledo Jewish community. FAMINC was divided into three almost equally sized categories: under $20,000 (.N=63); $20,000 to $39,999 (N=625; and $40,000 and over (N-58). The chi square value of 89.027 was highly significant and gamma =.795. Clearly, the hypothesis is supported by the data.

TABLE 3

CROSS-TABULATION BETWEEN FAMILY INCOME (FAMINC) AND TOTAL DOLLAR CONTRIBUTION TO CHARITY DURING THE PAST YEAR (TOTCHR)

A conventional wisdom in the fund-raising community is that those individuals who are active participants in community organizations are more likely to make charitable contributions to community organizations. A competing wisdom is that people make contributions in lieu of active participation in the community. A test of these competing wisdoms was carried out employing the number of Jewish community organizational memberships (JEWORG) as a measure of community organizational participation. Table 4 presents the result of a cross -tabulation between JEWORG and TOTCHR. JEWORG was also divided into three approximately equal groups: two or f ewer memberships; three or four memberships; and five or more memberships. As the table indicates, there is a strong positive association between the total amount of charitable contribution and the number of Jewish organizational memberships (gamma = .647). About two-thirds (66.3.) of those donating $1,000 or more had memberships in five or more Jewish community organizations while a similar proportion (61.7.) of those donating under $250 had few, if any, organization memberships in the Jewish community.

TABLE 4

CROSS-TABULATION BETWEEN NUMBER OF JEWISH COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONAL MEMBERSHIP (JEWORG) AND TOTAL DOLLAR CONTRIBUTION TO CHARITY DURING THE PAST YEAR (TOTCHR)

One possible explanation of the relationship between JEWORG and TOTCHR is that people with more organizational memberships have higher income than those with fewer organizational memberships-, and, it is higher income that leads to larger charitable donations. This explanation is especially salient given the significant statistical relationship between JEWORG and FAMINC (chi square = 15.016, d.f. 4, p. <.01).

As a final component of this preliminary analysis, JEWORG and TOTCHR were again cross-tabulated employing FAMINC as a test factor. FAMINC failed to explain the relationship between JEWORG and TOTCHR. In sum, even when controlling for family income, the original relationship between Jewish organizational memberships and total charitable contributions remained a statistically significant one. This shows that FAMINC and JEWORG, though related to each other, are independently associated with TOTCHR.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The primary purpose of this paper is to report on the charitable giving behavior of an urban Jewish population in the midwestern USA. Though placed within the broader context of consumer behavior research, this paper avoided a traditional marketing approach and emphasized the givers and why and how much they give, rather than the methods organizations employ to elicit charitable contributions.

Data for this analysis was collected as part of a larger study of the Jewish population in the Toledo, Ohio MSA in 1982. The demographic characteristics as well as some religious attitudinal and behavioral measures of a random sample of Toledo, Ohio Jews were f irst described. A preliminary analysis of charitable giving behavior followed. Both family income (FAMINC) and membership in Jewish organizations (JEWORG) were found to be strongly and positively related to the total charitable contributions (TOTCHR) made in the past year. Importantly, although JEWORG and FAMINC are statistically associated, their relationships with TOTCHR are independent. That is, FAMINC does not explain the association between JEWORG and FAMINC.

Providing fund-raisers with statistical evidence that -people with high income make more charitable contributions than those with low income is only to describe a reality with which those fund-raisers are likely already quite familiar. To point out that those with memberships in Jewish organizations give more to charity than those with fewer memberships may be another matter, especially when it is argued that the effect of memberships on giving occurs independently of family income. In essence, such a finding suggests that fund-raisers may it sell" organizational membership (and likely concomitant participation and involvement) as a device for raising charitable funds.

Hopefully, additional analysis may identify other demographic, religious attitudinal and behavioral factors which may be associated with charitable giving among Toledo, Ohio's Jews. Further analysis may also help determine the relative power of JEWORG and FAMINC for explaining variation in TOTCHR. This is a necessary first step in determining whether there are universal "explainers" of charitable giving across diverse ethnic/racial/religious groups.

REFERENCES

Kotler, Phillip (1981), Marketing for Nonprofit Organizations (2nd ed), New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Levin, Doron P. (1983), "Anguished Appeal: Jewish Charities Raise Huge Sums in the U.S. But Resistance Grows -- Some Big Givers Quit Giving Because of Israel Policies; How the Solicitors Work -- Pressurer at a Country Club", The Wall Street Journal, (April 1).

Putka, Gary (1984), "American Judaism: As Jewish Population Falls in the U.S. Leaders Seek to Reverse Trend -- Reform, Orthodox Groups Split Over What To Do; A Surge in Intermarriage -- 'Issue Is Our Group Survival'", The Wall Street Journal, (April 13).