Fidelity Charitable Examines the Future of Giving and Volunteering in New Study
New research from Fidelity Charitable found that what we already knew, in that, donors increased their giving year-over-year from 2019 to 2020.
However, it also determined 93% of donors plan to give the same (67%) or even more (26%) this year.
The study, entitled “What Comes Next: How COVID-19 Will Influence Giving in 2021 and Beyond,” discovered that 45% of donors were impacted by COVD-19 while 33% were impacted by social justice issues. An overlapping 23% cited both options having an impact on their charitable giving over the past year.
Additionally, more donors became aware of issues relating to disease cures, local community needs and hunger, with 30% planning to support these causes more in 2021 than they previously have. Additionally, 28% of donors will make more donations online.
“A year-and-a-half into the pandemic, donors are continuing to display inspiring generosity,” Kristen Robinson, chief operating officer of Fidelity Charitable, said in a statement. “A third say the events of last year will have a long-term influence on their behaviors, including the amount they give to charity and the causes they support. We hope these trends continue, as so many nonprofits are still attempting to recover.”
While donations increased, volunteerism headed in the opposite direction during the pandemic, but those trends appear to be reversing, with 35% of donors planning to volunteer more in the future, Virtual volunteering is trending with 30% participating that way in 2020 — up from 17% prior to the pandemic.
