This is in 2005 but I was personally suprised at some of their findings. I do not know where and how they came up with all there data to come to their conclusions but it was interesting…
Highlights from the Article:
“Another stereotype —conservatives are hard-hearted and less charitable and compassionate than liberals — is also untrue, according to Professor Arthur Brooks. He discussed his findings in a February 16 talk at Washington’s Heritage Foundation, a research and educational institute whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies…The United States is also a nation of volunteers. In 2000, the most recent year for which data are available, 44 percent of Americans engaged in volunteer work. The dollar value of their efforts was estimated to be $240 billion. Volunteers and givers are in general the same people.
Why are these Americans generous with their money and time?
Brooks presented demographic portraits of those who give and those who do not.
Givers regularly attend religious services and are skeptical of government, particularly government efforts to redistribute income. The poorest and richest households give the most as a percentage of income.
Those who attend church regularly are much more likely to give and to volunteer even to secular causes, he said.
Nongivers, according to Brooks, tend to be young, unreligious, unmarried males who believe government should redistribute income…When he asked students in a class he teaches at Moscow State University the reason the rates of charitable giving in Russia are low, Brooks said the students responded that their parents have no religious faith and, moreover, think “the government should do it.””
