Survey conducted by the Gallup Organization for Independent Sector; analyzed by Virginia Ann Hodgkinson and Murray S. Weitzman with Stephen M. Noga and Heather A. Gorski. In 1992, Independent Sector commissioned The Gallup Organization to conduct a national survey on the giving and volunteering behavior of Americans. This survey is the third in a series of surveys that are conducted every two years in order to establish reliable trend information. This series of national surveys include a wealth of new details on giving, volunteering, and motivations for such behavior. The survey questionnaire is developed by a national advisory group including scholars and practitioners who seek to imrove the questionnaire based upon new research findings and to identify issues of concern to the field. This survey addresses the following questions:

1. Who gives and volunteers? To whom? How much?
2. What determines giving and volunteering behavior?
3. What are the motivations for giving and volunteering to various types of charitable causes?
4. Is there a relationship between giving and volunteering to religious organizations and giving and volunteering to other charities?
5. What are public attitudes toward giving, volunteering, and the performance of charitable organizations?
6. Does the level of giving and volunteering change during an economic recession?

The study gives special attention to the demographic characteristics of givers and volunteers. Since the demography of the American population is changing rapidly, it is especially important to trace the level of participation by various demographic groups in the tradition of giving and voluntary service. Therefore, special attention is given to the giving and volunteering behavior of blacks, Hispanics, and recent immigrants. The information included in this report was obtained from in-home personal interviews conducted from April 3 to May 17, 1992, with a representative sample of 2,671 adult Americans 18 years of age or older.

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments.
List of tables.
Introduction.

Highlights:
     Overall patterns of giving and volunteering.
     Charitable behavior during a recession.
     Behavior that influences giving and volunteering.
     Public attitudes about giving, volunteering, and charitable organizations.
     Motivations for giving and volunteering.
     The capacity to give and volunteer.

Chapter 1. Who gives? Who volunteers? To whom? How much?:

Household contributions - an overview.
The value of volunteer time.
Volunteers and their activities.
Giving as a percentage of household income.
The relationship of hours volunteered per week to household giving.
Distributions of total contributions.
The relationship of religious contributors to total giving.
Summary demographic characteristics of givers and volunteers.
Detailed tables.

Chapter 2. Demographic characteristics of givers and volunteers:

All respondents.
Heads of households.
Characteristics of all respondents.
Age.
Gender.
Racial and ethnic groupings.
Household income.
Employment characteristics.
Education.
Religion.
Marital status.
Region.
Children under 18 years of age in household.
Immigrants status.
Detailed tables.

Chapter 3. The charitable behavior of Americans during a recession:

Financial well-being and charitable behavior.
Economic concerns and charitable behavior.
Concern about having enough money in the future and charitable behavior.
How current giving compares with previous years.
Volunteer time compared with three years ago.
Attitudes about the general condition of the country.
Patterns in giving and volunteering during an economic recession.
Detailed tables.

Chapter 4. Behavior that influences giving and volunteering:

Religious involvement and its relationship to giving and volunteering.
Membership in other than religious organizations and charitable behavior.
Giving to political and work-related organizations and charitable behavior.
Voting behavior and its relationship to charitable behavior.
Personal giving to needy persons compared with charitable behavior.
Giving and tax status.
Household members and responsibilities for charitable giving.
Pledging and giving.
Contributors' satisfaction with their level of giving.
How contributors compare their giving with that of other people.
Relationship between giving through payroll deductions and charitable behavior.
Planned giving.
Goals for giving and volunteering and charitable behavior.
Detailed tables.

Chapter 5. Public attitudes toward giving and volunteering:

Public attitudes about charitable institutions.
Public attitudes about the need and effectiveness of charitable organizations.
Public trust in charitable organizations.
Public attitudes about the contributions of charitable organizations to society.
Public attitudes towards charitable organizations and charitable behavior.
Detailed tables.

Chapter 6. Motivations for giving and volunteering:

Personal motives for giving and volunteering and charitable behavior.
Personal goals to accomplish with giving and volunteering and charitable behavior.
Background influences on giving and volunteering and charitable behavior.
Relationship between respondents attitudes and views about life in general and charitable behavior.
Why respondents stop giving to organizations.
Why people give to organizations for the first time.
Relationship between seeing public service announcements and charitable behavior.
Reasons for not giving.
Characteristics of respondents who were asked to contribute in the past year and giving behavior.
How volunteers learned about their activities.
Reasons for volunteering.
Why people did not volunteer.
Characteristics of respondents who were asked to volunteer in the past year.
The influence of personal goals on giving and volunteering.
Predictors of generous giving and volunteering.
Ten factors that explain behavior.
Generous givers versus non-givers.
Generous volunteers versus non-volunteers.
Generous givers and volunteers versus non-givers and non-volunteers.
Detailed tables.

Chapter 7. Summary and conclusions - Patterns and trends emerging from the biennial
                survey on giving and volunteering:

The relationship between giving and volunteering.
The relationship between religious involvement and charitable behavior.
The relationship between membership in other organizations, voting and charitable behavior.
Economic conditions and charitable behavior.
External factors that stimulate giving and volunteering.
Attitudes toward charitable organizations.
Personal motivations for giving and volunteering.
Potential to measurably increase giving and volunteering.

Appendixes:
     A. Methodological statement - The Gallup Organization.
     B. Areas of giving.
     C. Areas of volunteering.
     D. Methodological statement - Predicting charitable behavior. 
     E. 1992 survey questionnaire and attachments.

Survey conducted by the Gallup Organization for Independent Sector; analyzed by Virginia Ann Hodgkinson and Murray S. Weitzman with Stephen M. Noga and Heather A. Gorski. In 1992, Independent Sector commissioned The Gallup Organization to conduct a national survey on the giving and volunteering behavior of Americans.