A recent article in The Atlantic caught my attention for this one statistic: The wealthiest Americans donate 1.3 percent of their income, while the poorest donate 3.2 percent. According to the article, we’re facing a “charity gap”:
One of the most surprising, and perhaps confounding, facts of charity in America is that the people who can least afford to give are the ones who donate the greatest percentage of their income. In 2011, the wealthiest Americans—those with earnings in the top 20 percent—contributed on average 1.3 percent of their income to charity. By comparison, Americans at the base of the income pyramid—those in the bottom 20 percent—donated 3.2 percent of their income. The relative generosity of lower-income Americans is accentuated by the fact that, unlike middle-class and wealthy donors, most of them cannot take advantage of the charitable tax deduction, because they do not itemize deductions on their income-tax returns.
Is it that wealthier people are stingy? Selfish? Self-centered? Doubtful. Reading this article with my PR hat on, I was intrigued by one theory put forth:
In a series of controlled experiments, lower-income people and people who identified themselves as being on a relatively low social rung were consistently more generous with limited goods than upper-class participants were. Notably, though, when both groups were exposed to a sympathy-eliciting video on child poverty, the compassion of the wealthier group began to rise, and the groups’ willingness to help others became almost identical.
In other words, exposure to the problem — child poverty in this case — elicited equal compassion and willingness to help.
As PR people, doesn’t that get at the core of our job? We’re charged with raising awareness … educating the public … sharing stories that spark action.
There’s a saying, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” Perhaps that sentiment holds true in this case as well: “You can’t fix what you can’t see.” If the high-dollar donors aren’t aware of the magnitude of a problem, research indicates they’re less likely to help fund a solution. That puts the onus on PR people who work on behalf of these nonprofits to make sure the right message is getting to the right audience in a way that will elicit action. If potential donors don’t realize there’s a problem, it seems to me like that’s an opportunity for PR to show its true value.
Opportunity isn’t created. It’s seized.
PR industry: This is an opportunity. Will you seize it?
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