An online survey conducted by The Harris Poll of more than 2,000 U.S. adults on behalf of Vanguard Charitable, a leading nonprofit and sponsor of donor-advised funds (DAFs), found that nearly 3 in 5 American donors (59%) (defined as those who donated to charity in the past 12 months) gave half or more of their total monetary donations last year to charities providing disaster relief.
This marks a notable increase from the results of a similar survey conducted by The Harris Poll in April 2022 on behalf of Vanguard Charitable, which found that only 37% of American donors had given half or more of their charitable contributions to disaster relief efforts. But the new survey also suggests that donors encounter challenges when trying to respond charitably to disasters.
More than half of Americans (52%) agree that when a crisis (e.g., natural disaster, humanitarian crisis, economic crisis) occurs, they do not know where to find reputable information on how to direct a monetary donation to support those in need. Perhaps more concerning, 65% of Americans agree that when a crisis occurs, they do not generally have funds available to give right away.
“During a crisis, the desire to provide aid is so strong,” said Rebecca Moffett, president of Vanguard Charitable. “And we need to do more to help individuals act on that desire, especially those who may not know which charities to support, or how to quickly access funds to donate. At Vanguard Charitable, we seek to minimize these challenges by ensuring our donors have dollars at the ready and providing them with lists of highly rated charities responding to crises. The planful approach our donors take helps to explain why they have granted more than $2 billion already in 2023, our most generous year ever.”
When it comes to charitable giving in general, the survey found that Americans remain committed. Nearly 3 in 4 Americans (73%) reported having given a monetary donation to charity in the past twelve months, on par…
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