While some affluent households loosened restrictions on their giving, others focused on supporting specific needs. Those who increased giving to health-related causes focused on the following areas:
- 49% - Hospital supply chain issues
- 32% - Populations at risk of severe symptoms
- 30% - Virological or epidemiological research for a treatment or vaccines
- 34% - Other pandemic-related health or medical issues
While no one knows what the future might hold, most affluent households don't anticipate that their philanthropic behavior will change as a result of the pandemic. When asked about their future giving intentions:
- 74% don’t expect to change their long-term philanthropic behaviors
- 20% expect their charitable giving to be more directed to specific issues
- 5% expect their philanthropy to be less restrictive
As nonprofits continue to plan how they’ll adapt to the impact of the pandemic, affluent donors expect to continue providing support in their communities for the causes they love.
Methodology
The 2021 Bank of America Study of Philanthropy asked about giving in 2020. Development of the survey was a collaborative effort between Bank of America and the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI. The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy analyzed the responses for data validity and generated the statistical output. Analysis of survey results was a joint effort between the partners.
The survey was conducted using data obtained by Ipsos, including responses from its KnowledgePanel®, a nationally-representative, probability-based panel offering highly accurate and representative samples for online research. Ipsos engaged with the online panel, administered the survey to them, and scrubbed the responses for data validity.
The Study is based on a survey of 1,626 U.S. households with a net-worth of $1 million or more (excluding the value of their primary home) and/or an annual household income of $200,000 or more.
The survey questions in the 2021 Study included many that were modeled after those found in the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy’s Philanthropy Panel Study (PPS), which is a module of the Panel Study on Income Dynamics (PSID) conducted at the University of Michigan. PPS biennially assesses the giving and volunteering behavior of the typical American household. Questions about high-net-worth donors’ motivations for giving were modeled after questions asked in surveys for the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy’s regional giving studies.