How can I find out about the level of charitable giving within different ethinc groups? Research on donations?

Question

I am a fundraiser and my boss has asked me to find out how generous the Indian community is - in order to help with a press release we are doing! Any ideas on statistics, reports etc would be so welcome - have to admit that I do not know where to start on this although I have a feeling the Indian community are extremely generous to many charitable causes. Thanks for your help in advance xx

Answer 1

local census may help , also try looking on charity websites which list donations - contact oxfam, unicef and others to see if they audit ethnic minority donations

Answer 2

thankfully, you should not be able to get an accurate statistic on giving within ethnic or any other group.

Most of us give without the recipient knowing who has done the giving. And when we do donate to large business type causes, there is never a box that we need to check telling of our income level or ethnic or even religious leanings.

Personally I wish it to remain this way.

Of course if you just want to make your boss happy you can visit the IRS official site and see the breakdown of charitible donations that are reported by income group and not sure about ethnic groups though. I doubt very highly that this is an accurate sampling as the figures are given for deductions to income. Many of us do not itemize, so figures will be way off on the low side.

Answer 3

have to agree with Cindy. In addition, many people will not necessarily give to registered charities all the time - ie they also give to the homeless on the street, individuals, etc and this won't be registered anywhere.Charity is also not always in the form of money - it can come in many forms.

I think your boss has set you mission impossible and the best thing you can do is go back to him and tell him its not possible or accurate or indeed, right to link someones' charity to their ethnicity.