The decline in giving rates due to the COVID-19 pandemic was much steeper than predicted for both recipients and non-recipients of federal stimulus money. Americans who received stimulus checks had a decline in giving rates that was approximately 2.7 percentage points greater than expected had there been no pandemic. Those without stimulus checks saw a decline that was estimated at 2.1 percentage points greater than anticipated.

But while the percentage of decline from those who received a check was steeper than those who didn’t receive the federal assistance, stimulus check recipients gave an average of $257 more than the predicted amount. Those who did not receive stimulus checks gave close to the predicted amount in the absence of the pandemic, just $62 less.

That is one of the findings in new research from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University titled The Giving Environment: Giving During Times of Uncertainty.

The share of Americans who give to charity declined from 50.9% in 2018 to 46.9% in 2020, following the onset of the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, the share of American households participating in charitable giving had fallen from two-thirds in 2000 to about half in 2018.

The participation rate for 2020 is 4 percentage points less than the share seen just two years earlier. The researchers found that factors related to the pandemic hastened the decline at a faster pace than they estimate would have occurred without the pandemic. Rates of secular charitable giving experienced a sharper decline from pre-pandemic levels than did giving rates to religious congregations.

The study results showed a significant increase in the average amount given by donor households, which increased from $2,792 in pre-pandemic years to $3,116 in 2020, an increase of 11.6%. In the years before the pandemic, average amounts given were largely stable. The 2020 growth was primarily driven by a surge in the amount households gave to secular causes, from $1,327 in pre-pandemic years to $1,909 in 2020, a 44% increase, the data showed.

The amount given to religious congregations remained consistent with pre-pandemic levels, according to authors of the report.

“This new study documents the resilience of Americans’ generosity even amidst some of the most challenging times our country has faced in recent years,” Una Osili, Ph.D., associate dean for research and international programs at the school said via a statement. “Everyday Americans increased the amount of their charitable giving in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic even as aspects of the crisis exacerbated the ‘declining donors’ trend in the share of U.S. households who give that we’ve seen over two decades.”

The length of state-mandated pandemic shutdowns appears not to have impacted giving, except for giving to religious congregations. The longer the duration of mandated shutdowns, the more the giving participation rates and amounts given to religious congregations increased, the data shows. Individual-level pandemic experiences, such as job loss or a COVID-19 diagnosis, might have had a smaller impact on giving participation rates compared to the impact of living in more severely affected communities, according to the report’s authors.

“The COVID-19 pandemic was one of the most significant forces of change in the charitable giving landscape in decades. This research expands knowledge of how it disrupted and reshaped American households’ giving behavior. It sheds light on whether and how pandemic factors — such as social distancing mandates, unprecedented economic loss, and COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality — may have impacted giving,” Amir Pasic, Ph.D., the Eugene R. Tempel Dean of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, said via a statement.

(stock photo from DepositPhotos)

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