Charitable Contributions and Volunteering

This report summarizes results from Wave 1 of the Humane Research Council's "Animal Tracker" survey of U.S. adults regarding their attitudes and behavior toward animals. This inaugural survey of 16 core questions shows strong support for the protection of all animals. The strength of that support varies by situation and species, however, and actual behavior does not always reflect the favorable attitudes identified.

By adopting strategic performance measures, nonprofits can bring focus and discipline to their mission and much-needed information to donors and supporting organizations. The result: a more efficient marketplace that rewards effectiveness, thereby bringing bigger benefits to society. And in the post-Enron era, the stewardship and accountability that the Balanced Scorecard can help nonprofits achieve is just as relevant to the private sector as it is to the public sector. [Excerpted from article]

Shelter statistics show that 13.5 million dogs and cats were euthanized in shelters in 1973, compared with 3-4 million in 2007. Tax and financial data on individual nonprofits and state population totals were used to calculate a per-capita donation figure, used here as benchmarks to assess the level of support for animal protection in each state.

In this second year of the annual survey, researchers asked UK individuals about donations of money to a selected range of charitable causes over the previous four weeks. Survey results showed that the pattern of giving is consistent on a yearly basis, with about three-fifths of the U.K. population giving to charities each month.

This US nationwide survey of 222 men and 240 women, conducted by Nationwide Mutual Insurance, found that children's and youth causes were the most important causes to respondents, with 64% in support. Animals were the second most important cause, with 51% in support. Other significant causes cited were education and literacy, religion and hunger.

This Master's thesis submitted in 2007 provides a framework (PREP) based on philosophy, red flags, efficiencies and people, which is recommended for use in evaluating animal welfare organizations prior to making contributions.

This research study shows the results of three surveys conducted in 1996, 2001 and 2005 to assess the long term trends in charitable contributions, which in general have shown an increase in percentage of those who view donations to animal experimentation as unnecessary and prefer to donate to those that fund only human-based research.