The Pentera Blog
New Study Shows How to Teach Children to Be Charitable
Almost 90 percent of American children give to charity at least occasionally, and the best way parents can raise charitable children is to talk directly with them about it. Those are key findings from the latest Women Give study.
The fourth in a series, Women Give 2013 was released last fall by the Women's Philanthropy Institute at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. The latest study, conducted in partnership with the United Nations Foundation, focused on children for the first time.
Children are charitable
The study found that 88 percent of children aged 8 and above gave to charity at least once in the two years covered by the study, with 55 percent giving in both years. There was no significant difference between girls and boys, nor did family income affect whether children gave.
"This study confirms what we at the UN Foundation view as one of the most powerful trends of our time: Young people are a force for positive change in the world," said Kathy Calvin, president and CEO of the UN Foundation, in a press release about the study. "From grade school students raising money to fight malaria to teenage girls advocating against child marriage, today's young people aren't waiting to make a difference—they're doing it now."
Parents role modeling giving is not enough to teach children to give
Very little research has been done about how children learn to be charitable adults, and the study focused on the key question, "How can I raise my children to be charitable?" The study found that children were 12.5 percent more likely to give some of their own money to charity when their primary caregiver (usually the mother) talked to them about donating. In contrast, role-modeling by itself was not effective: Parents who gave to charity themselves but did not discuss it with their children had no significant impact on their children's giving.
The statistics on parent conversations with their children about charity were very close to the percent of children who actually gave: 87 percent of parents talked with their children about giving in one of the years of the study, and 88 percent of children gave; 57 percent of parents talked with their children about giving in both study years, and 55 percent of children gave. The study found that talking with children is effective regardless of gender, age, race, or income.
"This research provides a clear, effective path for parents who want to encourage their children to be generous and caring," said Debra J. Mesch, Ph.D., director of the Women's Philanthropy Institute, in the press release. "The way parents teach their children about giving matters. Talking to children about charity is effective across all types of U.S. households, pointing the way to raising future philanthropists."
Focus on empathy when teaching children to give
While the study did not survey what parents actually said to their children about giving, the authors discussed what is likely to be most effective based on other research.
"Parents need to ask themselves, 'Do my children know that I give to charity? Do they know which charities I give to? Do they know why I give, and why I give to those specific charities?'" the authors wrote. "Parents need to communicate these values purposefully to their children. These conversations should emphasize how their children's giving explicitly will impact others."
The study then provided an example of an effective statement, which focuses on empathy for the recipients of charity: "If we help people who do not have food, they will be happier in life than if they were hungry all the time." The study authors said that type of statement is more effective than saying such things as "we need to feed the hungry because this is the right thing to do" or "we need to share our food with those less fortunate than us."
Calvin of the UN Foundation was very upbeat about the findings, concluding, "As more parents talk to their children about the importance of giving, we will see new philanthropists emerge to help create a brighter future for all of us."
The complete study report can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/19P6Ufc.
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