Charity, Voluntarism, and the Nonprofit State

• In Event: Engagement in Civic and Charitable Organizations

Abstract

CHARITY, VOLUNTARISM, AND THE NONPROFIT STATE

Jeffrey M. Berry, James M. Glaser, and Deborah J. Schildkraut

Who gives to charity? And who spends time volunteering? Despite political scientists’ enduring focus on civic engagement, these two questions have received scant attention in the discipline. Some studies in economics point to ideology being strongly linked to decisions to donate or volunteer. In this polarized age, this make sense because it seems that nearly all types of political behavior and civic engagement are tied to ideological sentiments.

The most prominent work on this topic, Who Really Cares, by economist Arthur Brooks, found that conservatives were much more likely to give to charity and to volunteer in their community. Yet there are many reasons, both methodological and substantive (i.e., changes in tax law), for tackling these questions anew. Our study improves upon previous databases with a survey module we placed on the 2020 Congressional Election Study (CES) that explores charity and volunteering in great detail. Methodologically we improve upon previous studies by asking respondents not about charity or volunteering per se, but instead about four nonprofit sectors: religion, social services, health related, and other. We also asked respondents to give us a specific dollar figure for contributions to both religious and secular nonprofits. Our analysis reveals that liberals, not conservatives, are more likely to make a charitable contribution and (modestly) more likely to volunteer. When we turn to multivariate analysis, though, ideology washes out for both liberals and conservatives. There are a few demographic factors that are significant but, overall, the strongest predictor of both charity and volunteering among Americans is whether an individual attends church. In a time when it appears that ideological differences are everywhere, we uncover an aspect of civic and political life where there are more similarities across the ideological divide than differences.

Authors

• Jeffrey M. Berry, Tufts University

• James M. Glaser, Tufts University

• Deborah Schildkraut, Tufts University