Fifty-three percent of charitably minded Americans in a new poll said they would maintain their giving this year, but would do so more carefully than before the coronavirus outbreak.
However, 20% of respondents said they would stop giving until the economy was back up and running.
Dunham+Company sponsored the poll, which was conducted by Campbell Rinker from April 17 to April 21 — one month after the American economy shut down — among 630 adults who had made charitable gifts of at least $20 in 2019. Participants’ giving last year ranged from $20 to $66,500.
Twenty-eight percent of poll participants said they would keep giving regardless of the pandemic.
The poll results showed that this sentiment was especially strong among donors who said they attended religious services at least weekly — 40%, compared with 19% of those who did not frequent religious services.
In addition, 33% of self-described conservative respondents but only 21% of liberal ones expected to maintain their giving.
Two-thirds of boomers said they would keep giving the same amount to charity this year, while only 40% of millennials said they would do so, and 31% of these said they would reduce their giving.