What drives giving around the world and how can we encourage more?  

“Giving goes to social causes – to where people can bring about change, where lives can be improved, where marginalised people can be pulled out of poverty, where services can be provided, where food can be distributed.”    

This statement on the power of giving for society was beautifully put by Shazia Amjad, Executive Director of the Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy at the launch event for our World Giving Report: Donor Insights in early June in Sofia, Bulgaria. We were also delighted to celebrate our International Network partner BCause’s 30 years of strengthening generosity and civil society in Bulgaria at the same time.   

The Donor Insights report tracks people’s attitudes and behaviours around giving in more than 100 countries and territories around the world so that we can better understand global cultures of giving. For our World Giving Report series, we collaborate with partners around the world to combine local insight with global evidence and build a richer, more actionable picture of generosity. We believe that building and sharing knowledge is essential to developing resilient organisations and thriving philanthropic ecosystems.    

We witnessed this exchange of knowledge and ideas at the research’s launch event where representatives from philanthropy organisations from Bulgaria, Pakistan, Australia and Brazil, discussed what is driving giving in their countries, trends they are seeing and what more can be done to grow generosity. In chairing the panel, CAF’s America’s CEO and President opened with the research’s most encouraging finding: “Generosity is everywhere. On most continents, most people are giving.”  

Yet we know from the research that routes to generosity differ – what encourages people to give, how and why they give and how they find the charities they want to support, differ around the world and we have much we can learn from one another.  

A key finding is that in countries where social norms drive giving, people are more generous. Social norms, or the unwritten rules of a society, can be influenced by factors such as religion, culture or heritage.   

For instance, Pakistan has strong social norms around giving with 63% of people giving because their religion encourages it compared to 33% globally. “Religious giving is the backbone of overall giving environment”, Shazia said. Zakat is typically 2.5% of what people make in a year – “it’s something that is voluntary and they can give themselves or through the government fund.”  This contrasts with Bulgaria where 54% of the population give money, but only 6% give via religious routes, one of the lowest levels in the world. Despite this, Elitsa Barakova, Executive Director of BCause pointed out 44% of Bulgarians still feel a strong duty to give to charity where they can, significantly more than the global average (36%). “The report shows that through giving, we form communities, we unite and strengthen our support for one another”, she said.   

For Paula Fabiani, CEO of IDIS the pandemic changed giving norms in Brazil. “Society has perceived giving in a different way since the pandemic, especially the most privileged people – they started engaging more, donations increased and there is more consciousness about contributing to address the most pressing issues we face.”  

This feeling of change was echoed by Maree Sidey, CEO of Philanthropy Australia: “The culture of giving is in an era of transition in Australia. Traditional direct giving is in decline. But because of the growth of wealth inequality, we’re seeing an increase in the growth of private and corporate foundations.” While Australia is a wealthy country, people are still under pressure. The biggest barrier to giving was a feeling of not being able to afford it (65% of respondents, compared to the global average of 39%) – a common trend across high-income countries.   

The panel discussed the opportunities to grow cultures of giving in their country and globally, including recognising generosity in all its forms. Shazia highlighted that while the research shows “the culture of giving in Pakistan is extremely cohesive”, more could be done to recognise how people within communities support each other, through time and effort, not only money. Indeed, the research finds that people who feel a very strong sense of belonging to a community are four times more generous.    

We can encourage greater levels of giving  by talking about it more. Although most donors (67%) globally would find it acceptable for someone to talk about their giving, only one in three (33%) of those people said they talk about their own giving frequently. These rare conversations about giving would both build and reinforce stronger social norms.  

“We are very modest about giving in Australia”, Maree said. “We don’t talk publicly about giving, which is very different to other countries. This can make it hard for people to encourage their peers to give.”   

In Brazil, talking about giving is also a challenge, and Paula argued that “we need to make generosity more visible, something people see, talk about, and feel part of. In Brazil, we have a strong instinct to help, especially at the community level, but that doesn’t always translate into consistent, institutional giving. There could also be opportunities to grow engagement through social media, where 15% of donors globally said they had found out about the last charity they donate to. It is “one of the most influential channels we have to grow giving”, according to Paula.   

Around the world, people who feel a strong sense of belonging to their local community are much more likely to give, as are those who see the impact of charities in their local area are more generous. For Elitsa, the research also provides lessons for civil society organisations. “Citizens who want to belong to the community of those who are shaping our shared reality say they need to be more familiar with those local organisations so they can trust and support them fully.”   

As the research shows, there’s no single formula for generosity, but if we want to grow giving, we all have a role to play. The potential for impact is too great to miss out on. We hope that our World Giving Report: Donor Insights helps to encourage further conversations about how we can build stronger and more thriving cultures of giving across the world. We’re also looking forward to launching the accompanying Charity Insights report in September which explores the experiences of social purpose organisations around the world.  

By Marijana Sevic, Head of International, Charities Aid Foundation