5 Insights From the ‘GivingPulse Q1 2024 Report’

GivingTuesday released the third iteration of its quarterly GivingPulse report last week, which highlights trends in generosity-related behaviors from January to March 2024.

The report surveys 100 people every week — for a total of 1,200 respondents per quarter — about their philanthropic behaviors over the past week.

Here are five takeaways from the “GivingPulse Q1 2024 Report.”

1. Generosity Remained Fairly Steady During the First Quarter of 2024

Aside from a small drop in the middle of February, the percentage of respondents who gave in any form remained steady for the course of the first quarter of 2024. This low point has appeared in the middle of February for the past three years.

This trend was similar among respondents who reported giving money, donating items and advocating. However, the volunteer rate that dipped from December into early January went up during February and then returned to baseline.

Responses to "What generous actions did you undertake in the last 7 days?" | Credit: "GivingPulse Q1 2024 Report" by GivingTuesday

2. Recurring Donations Don’t Just Go to Registered Nonprofits

The GivingPulse report asked respondents who the recipients of their generosity were: registered organizations, informal groups or individuals. The first was designated as a formal way of giving, and the other two were designated as informal methods.

Data showed that 71% of recurring donors gave to a registered nonprofit, meaning 29% of recurring gifts were made through informal methods.

This chart shows giving patterns among recurring monetary donors. | Credit: "GivingPulse Q1 2024 Report" by GivingTuesday

Notably, 41% of recurring donors said they made monetary gifts to an informal group, either exclusively or in addition to formal giving.

“This raises the question of how these informal groups organize to accept donations systematically,” according to the report. “These groups might be collecting money through GoFundMe or a similar informal fundraising tool, or through cash at regular in-person events.”

Additionally, 46% of recurring donors reported giving to individuals, separately from or in addition to registered or informal groups. The report suggested that recurring donations to individuals may be made “by manually sending money at regular intervals.”

3. Support for Causes by Locality Shifted Slightly

Support for international, national and local causes throughout 2023 was relatively stable; the proportion of respondents supporting each was 9%, 28% and 65%, respectively. The greatest fluctuation occurred when the Israel-Hamas war began, which caused international giving to jump from 8% to 17% during that period.

In February, support for national causes dropped from 28% to 20%, then went back up to 30% in March. During this time, there was a slight corresponding increase in support for international causes. Support for local causes was stable during this period.

4. Greater Proportion of Nonreligious People Were Generous During Religious Events

In the GivingPulse’s typical dataset, religious respondents were more likely to be solicited than their nonreligious counterparts, as well as more likely to respond generously. However, there was an exception to that trend in the first quarter of 2024.

“In mid-March, we saw a week when nonreligious people were both solicited and responded at a greater rate than religious people (about 5% higher),” according to the report.

These charts show solicitation and response rate by religiosity. | Credit: "GivingPulse Q1 2024 Report" by GivingTuesday

The report noted the only time this happened in 2023 was around GivingTuesday leading up to end-of-year giving.

“This is surprising because this period coincided with a period in March of 2024 when people of multiple faiths were observing annual fasts simultaneously (Lent, Ramadan and Norouz),” according to the report.

5. More People Would Have Donated Had They Been Solicited

At the beginning of the first quarter, about 53% of respondents reported they had been solicited in the previous month. By the end of March, only 47% of respondents reported having been solicited in the past month. The low point in solicitation was during the second week of February, when only 41% of respondents reported past month solicitation.

Over the course of the first quarter, 28% of respondents said they had been solicited in the past week, with 37% of those saying they responded with generosity.

The researchers used a decision tree model to evaluate how participants would have responded had they been solicited. According to the report, a generous response was more likely if the unsolicited participant:

• Said it is personally “very important” to them to help those in need.
• Strongly agreed with the statement “I feel everyone has a responsibility to give and help those in need.”
• Was aware of a new crisis or disaster in the past seven days.

Using this logic, an additional 7% of the entire GivingPulse sample from the first quarter of 2024 that was not solicited would have responded generously. These respondents may represent a substantial untapped resource for nonprofits.