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Dear Colleagues:
I am pleased to send you the current issue of our
newsletter, Wealth and the Commonwealth.
We have been very busy designing, preparing and
launching "The Joys and
Dilemmas of Wealth"- a new study funded by the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Calibre -
Wealth Management. The questionnaire aspect of
the study started in late autumn and we continue to
collect data. This study is an unparalleled look at the
ways in which households of $25 million or more
view their wealth and their philanthropy. It is not too
late to participate and if you know of any individuals
interested in participating please ask them to contact
the Center. All of us here at the Center are very
excited to see the results and share them with all of
you in the months ahead.
Speaking of releasing results - we are happy to
announce the findings of "Geography and Giving: The
Culture of Philanthropy in New England and the
Nation." John J. Havens' and my report, which
was funded and released by the Boston Foundation,
focuses on the ways in which people in our region
engage in philanthropy as compared to the rest of the
country. More details about some of the findings are
included below. If you would like a similar study for
your region, please call the
Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at 617-552-4070
or
e-mail Robert A.
Kenny.
In addition, we have enclosed two short, interesting
philanthropy articles. The first article targets gender and
philanthropy while the second piece discusses
philanthropy among unmarried individuals.
As always, I welcome your comments and feedback.
Cordially,
Paul Schervish
Center on Wealth and Philanthropy
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| The Joys and Dilemmas of Wealth Study |
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The Boston College Center on Wealth and
Philanthropy has launched a groundbreaking study,
The Joys and Dilemmas of Wealth, to explore
the
new cultural underpinnings of wealth for society. This
is an unparalleled study - the first large-scale survey
to focus exclusively on households with at least $25
million in net worth. The objective of the study is to
uncover the attitudes, practices and personal
philosophies of ultra high net worth households
regarding wealth and philanthropy.
The study is being partly underwritten by grants
received from the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation and Calibre, a division of Wachovia
Wealth Management. Enthusiasm for the study is
running high. Michael Deich, deputy director of public
policy and external affairs at the Gates Foundation
has declared, "We believe that the Center's survey
will make an extraordinary contribution toward
helping us understand what drives donors to give
and what they need in order to give effectively."
Robert Frank, noted author and columnist of the Wall
Street Journal Wealth Report, has featured the study
in his column and his blog
"The Wealth
Report"
The Center on Wealth and Philanthropy will present
the findings in nationally distributed reports.
Professor Paul Schervish, Director of the Center,
notes, this survey will ask
behavioral and attitudinal questions about the little
understood dilemmas, obstacles, opportunities, and
spiritual understandings of wealth and will tender a
rare insight into the financial and philanthropic
counseling needs of ultra high net worth households.
"This study is significant," said Schervish, "because its
findings will provide a window into the cultural horizons
of wealth and can directly help wealth holders use their
resources as a tool for nobler purposes into the 21st
century."
It is not too late to contribute. If your organization is
interested in participating in the study please call the
Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at 617-552-4070 or
e-mail Robert A.
Kenny
Please see "The Joys and Dilemmas of
Wealth Study" for more information.
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| The Geography and Giving Report |
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Geography and Giving: The Culture of
Philanthropy in New England and the Nation was
enthusiastically received by the Boston community.
Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of The Boston
Foundation, asserted, "Based on the superb research
conducted at the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy
at Boston College, led by Director Paul G. Schervish
and Senior Associate Director John J. Havens, this
report identifies and analyzes the mosaic of cultural,
historical, demographic, and socio-economic factors
that shape the giving patterns in greater Boston,
Massachusetts and New England - adding
dramatically to the understanding of our distinctive
regional culture." The Boston
Foundation, Grogan notes, published this report in
order to provide
important new knowledge, to stimulate a
conversation about the practice and power of
philanthropy, and to strengthen Greater Boston's
nonprofit sector.
In the report the authors show how the giving
patterns described in the report are shaped by the
region's unique blend of history, cultural forces and
other demographics. The report unveiled a range of
interesting findings to the philanthropic and non-profit
community in Boston. For instance, Boston's most
affluent population makes philanthropic gifts that are
among the very largest in the country. In
Massachusetts,
the most affluent and
wealthy households donate larger portions of their
after tax income when expressed in terms of regional
purchasing power than any other state in the nation
except Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey.
Residents of Massachusetts from lower and middle-
income households, however, donate smaller
portions of their after tax income again expressed in
terms of regional purchasing power compared to the
national average.
Geography and Giving offers fresh insight
into why donors in Massachusetts give and why
they are prone to give more to secular than
religious causes. The report reveals that although
national giving is equally split between religious and
secular, Bostonians in particular and New
Englanders in general, give substantially less to
religion and substantially more to secular causes, on
average, than the rest of the country.*
Educational attainment, especially beyond the
bachelor's degree, has a high correlation with
secular giving. Boston is known throughout the world
as higher education's hometown. Boston and
Massachusetts have a very large proportion of heads
of households with doctorate and masters degrees.
The city has a well educated populace and thus it
has an expanded secular donor base. Occupation is
also a
strong indicator of levels of giving and heads of
households working in professional and
administrative occupations give more than do their
counterparts in other occupations. Heads of
households working in high technology (information,
biomedical, pharmaceutical, etc.) as well as higher
education, two fields central to the Boston and
Massachusetts economy, are more likely to
donate to charity, especially secular charity. The
report speculates that working in
professional occupations reinforces values and
normative behavior that leads to high levels of
secular giving.
In their report Havens and Schervish point out that
heads of households of two particular groups stand
out in Boston and Massachusetts: African Americans
and heads of households who have served in the
military. African American households give the
largest percentage of their after tax incomes, on
average, to charity as compared with all other races
in Massachusetts. Households whose head served
in the military gave a greater percentage of their after
tax income, in terms of regional purchasing power, to
charity than those who had not served.
Schervish and Havens point out patterns and insights
into the specific conditions and history that give rise
to New England's philanthropic signature. In order to
compare Massachusetts to other states and Boston to
other metropolitan areas, they have completed a
substantial portion of the statistical research required
to undertake studies similar for other states or other
metropolitan areas. If you are interested in
identifying and analyzing the cultural,
historical, demographic, and socio-economic factors
that shape the giving patterns in your region please
call the
Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at 617-552-4070
or
e-mail Robert A.
Kenny
* In the report, the term "religious giving" is used to
mean congregational giving - cash,
goods, services or assets given directly to the house of
worship. All other forms of giving are termed "secular
giving" including a gift to a school, program or hospital
run by a religious organization.
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Geography and Giving: The Culture of Philanthropy in New England and the Nation |
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| Does Gender Make a Difference in Volunteering? |
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Based on the most Current Population Survey
(September 2005), we see an emerging
difference in the ways men and women
volunteer in their communities. Did you know
that women volunteer more frequently and to
more types of non-profit causes than do men?
But of the men who do volunteer, they
volunteer more hours, on average, than women
who volunteer? Nevertheless, women volunteer
more aggregate hours
than men -- there are more women than men
and a greater proportion of women volunteer
as compared with men.
Without a doubt, in both religious and in
secular organizations, women provide by far
the majority of the volunteer hours.
- Women provided 56 percent of the
8.236
billion annual hours volunteered to nonprofit
organizations in 2005: 4.562 billion annual
volunteer hours (equivalent to 2.5 million
full time employees) -- 1.782 billion hours
to religion (1.0 million full time employees)
and 2.780 billion hours to secular causes
(1.5 million full time equivalents).
- Simultaneously, men provided a substantial
3.584
billion annual volunteer hours in 2005
(equivalent to 2.0 million full time
employees) -- 1.363 billion hours to religion
(749 thousand full time employees) and 2.221
billion annual hours to secular causes (1.251
million full time employees).
Turning to the rate of participation, we find
that overall a larger proportion of women
volunteer to religious (14 percent) and to
secular causes (23 percent) than do men (10
percent and 18 percent, respectively).
However, when men do volunteer they contribute a
larger number of hours (126 annual hours per volunteer
to religious and 113 annual hours per
volunteer to secular causes) than do female
volunteers (111 annual hours to religious and
105 annual hours to secular causes).
In summary, women volunteer more frequently
than men both to religious and to secular
causes. Males volunteer more time on average than
do female volunteers. At older ages,
both genders volunteer more hours per
volunteer than their younger counterparts,
but more people volunteer at younger ages
than at older ages. The greater number of
hours volunteered by men partly offsets the
greater percentage of women that volunteer.
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| Philanthropy Among the Unmarried |
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Based on the 2004 Survey of Consumer
Finances, the most recent survey of its kind,
households headed by unmarried men (which
includes separated, divorced, widowed and never
married) donate, on average, an equal amount
to charity as households headed by unmarried
women. In 2003, this amounted to an average
of $743 per household. However, there were 31
million households headed by
unmarried women compared to only 17 million
households headed by unmarried men. So total
donations
by unmarried females reached $23 billion in
aggregate as
compared with only $12
billion for unmarried
men. Among the unmarried households,
female-headed households earned an average of
$30,000 in 2003 and owned an average of
$167,000 in net worth while unmarried male
households earned an average of $42,000 and
owned an average of $305,000 in net worth. Thus
among not married households,
female heads gave the same average amount to
charity as male heads although the females
earned 71% of the income and owned 55% of the
net worth of their male counterparts.
Controlling for income, unmarried women give
more to charity on average in every income
category as compared to unmarried men. At the
lower levels of
income, the differences between the two
unmarried genders were modest and became more
dramatic at higher household income categories.
- Households earning from $0 to
$24,999:
unmarried men donated an average of $244 to
charity as compared with $256 for unmarried
women in the same bracket.
- Households earning $100,000 to
$199,999: unmarried men donated an average of
$2,920 as compared with $3,541 for unmarried
women.
- Households earning more than
$200,000:
unmarried men donated an average of $6,526 as
compared with $28,171 for unmarried women.
The pattern is similar for wealth; there is
little gender difference in the average
charitable donations for net worth below
$100,000 but as net worth increased, the
average donation by households headed by
unmarried women increases substantially more
than their male counterparts. Households
headed by unmarried women with $5 million or
more in wealth donated an average of $50,298
per household to charity as compared with
$13,565 for households headed by unmarried men.
In summary, affluent and wealthy women who
are widowed, never married, separated or
divorced give more to charity, on average,
than similarly affluent and wealthy men who
are widowed, never married, separated, or
divorced. There are smaller percentages of
affluent and wealthy unmarried women than
there are percentages of affluent and wealthy
unmarried men.
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