Study: Women give more to charity than men do

A new study has found that single women give much more money to charity than do single men, across almost every income group.

"Looking at giving across five different income groups, which range roughly from $23,000 to $100,000 a year, it is clear that it is not only wealthy women who give," said Debra Mesch, the director of the Women's Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University, which conducted the study. "Women across nearly every income category give significantly more than their male counterparts — in many cases, nearly twice as much."

The study found just one income bracket where men were more generous than women: $23,509 to $43,500.

The study looked only at single people, because accurate data about giving in married households is much more elusive.

But higher rates of giving among women don't translate into greater selflessness across the board. A 2003 study conducted by the National Opinion Research Center -- known as the gold standard for social science research -- looked more broadly at gender differences in altruism, ranging from small acts like letting someone cut in front in a line to larger ones like giving blood. That study found no significant differences between men and women, coauthor Tom Smith told The Upshot.

In fact, even on the narrower issue of philanthropic giving, the new report is at odds with some prior research. A 2005 study by the NewTithing Group, a philanthropic research organization, came to essentially the opposite conclusion, finding that single men generally are more generous than single women.

Still, the report may be useful in alerting fundraisers to a currently undervalued market of potential donors. "Because single women as a group do not have the economic characteristics of single men as a group, and because women tend to spread their giving in smaller gifts to a greater number of worthy causes, fundraisers can overlook this underlying generosity of women," Eleanor Brown, a Pomona College professor of economics who has studied the demographics of charitable giving, told The Upshot. "This study adds an important rigorous element to our appreciation of women's philanthropy."

(Photo: AP/Seth Wenig)