The Endowment Handbook

7Who Gives, Who Gives to Endowment, and Why

This chapter enables you to:

• Understand who makes charitable gifts in America, and who is most likely to give to endowment.
• Identify the most common traits of individual charitable donors.
• Distinguish between donors making current gifts and those who give toward the future.
• Review the variety of methods that explore motivations for giving and how they can be applied to endowment fundraising.

Donors may provide all – or most – revenue for many causes. Museums, advocacy organizations, environmental causes, and other sectors typically rely on contributed revenue for more than half of their income, as illustrated in Figure 7‐1. Sectors like healthcare and higher education that have a high proportion of earned revenue call on philanthropy to ensure access (through scholarships, for example) and pursue innovation. According to the Urban Institute's National Center for Charitable Statistics,¹ contributions account for slightly more than 20% of total revenue in the nonprofit sector, with wide variations depending on the cause.

FIGURE 7-1 Proportion of contributed versus earned revenue by sector

Adapted from NCCS

Given this reliance on donors and the funds they provide, declining donor participation is alarming for nonprofit organizations in every sector and every region. And, because donors to endowments are generally those with longstanding ...