In the wake of the pandemic, more Americans say they want to support hospitals and health causes. They are holding back on giving to education and environment while continuing to support social services at the same rate they did in the past.
Only 34 percent said they had given to a public-health clinic or nonprofit hospital in the 12 months before the pandemic. Since the coronavirus crisis, 50 percent said they either have given or plan to support a public-health clinic or hospital, according to the poll by Luth Research and the Nonprofit Institute at the University of San Diego’s School of Leadership and Education Sciences in partnership with the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
The survey, conducted April 10 to 12, was conducted among 353 adults, 64 percent of whom had made a gift in the previous year. The results have a margin of error of 5 percent.
Although Americans have been more interested in supporting health charities, they are staying firm in their desire to support social-services groups, with nearly six in 10 saying they did that before the crisis and a similar share doing the same now and in the future.
But support for environmental organizations and educational nonprofits has slipped since the Covid-19 crisis started, according to the survey.
Until the scope of the crisis became clear in March, 22 percent said, they had given to an environmental nonprofit. Since then, only 15 percent said they either plan to give or have given to an environmental nonprofit.
Likewise, 14 percent said they had given to an educational nonprofit in the year before the pandemic. Only 8 percent said they have given or plan to give to an educational nonprofit since the beginning of March.
Cultural organizations are not facing as big a decline from the public. Eighteen percent said they had given to an arts group before the pandemic, while 13 percent said they either plan to or have given to a cultural organization since the beginning of March.
Trust in Charities During the Crisis
The survey also asked Americans what institutions they trusted to handle the crisis.
Comparing organizations against federal, state, and local government, 66 percent of respondents said they had either “a fair amount” or a “great deal” of confidence in nonprofits’ response to the pandemic. State government got even higher marks, with 70 percent saying they had confidence in them and nearly the same for local governments. But only 47 percent of Americans said they had similar levels of confidence in the federal government’s response to the pandemic.
A perhaps surprising finding is that the pandemic has caused a decrease in people who said they were supporting individuals who suffered financial or other crises by contributing to crowdfunding campaigns. Asked about the 12 months before the pandemic, 33 percent of those polled said they had supported individuals through crowdfunding. Only 11 percent said they have donated since the beginning of March to a crowdfunding effort.
