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Philanthropy	-Download NJPS Report PDF -Download PowerPoint Summary
Charitable giving is crucial for Jewish institutional life. NJPS asked about charitable giving to non-Jewish causes and Jewish causes aside from federations for the entire Jewish population, but restricted questions about contributing to federation campaigns* to the more engaged Jewish population.

Most American Jews (62%) give to non-Jewish causes and 41% donate to Jewish causes other than federations. Among the more Jewishly connected population, just under a third (30%) give to the federation system.* Within each of these domains, the proportions that report they donate $100 or more are far smaller, ranging from 39% for non-Jewish causes, to 26% for Jewish causes aside from federations and 15% for federations.*

Though data on federation giving are limited, a reasonable estimate of the percentage of all Jews who give to federation is 21%. This estimate assumes that respondents who were not asked about donating to federation campaigns give to federations at the same rate as respondents who are similar to them on other Jewish characteristics and were asked directly about federation gifts. [5]

As with other aspects of Jewish involvement, philanthropy is related to region, age and institutional affiliations, as well as income (see Table 12). Midwestern Jews are distinguished for their high rates of giving to both non-Jewish causes and federation campaigns, while Northeastern Jews are notable for the broadest participation in Jewish charitable giving outside the federation system. Jews in the West, in contrast, report the lowest levels of giving to Jewish causes, both federation and otherwise.

Age-related patterns in the crucial age groups between 35 and 64 are important because they may indicate changes over time in charitable giving. Significantly, adults age 55-64 are almost twice as likely to give to federation campaigns as those age 35-44.  Differences between these groups are less distinctive for giving to other Jewish causes and even narrower for non-Jewish causes. In sum, of all types of philanthropy, federation giving is most sensitive to age, with steady declines registered from older to younger age groups. [6]

Not surprisingly, those under 35 years of age give less frequently to all three types of causes. Life cycle factors are prominent in this pattern, as those who are at the beginning of careers and family formation have traditionally been less engaged in charitable giving than other adults. Elderly Jews, in contrast, give to federation campaigns at even higher rates (48%) than those age 55-64, but the elderly are not distinctive with regard to giving to other Jewish causes and show a small decline in donating to non-Jewish causes relative to others.

Charitable donations to each type of cause -- non-Jewish, Jewish and federation -- rise with Jewish institutional affiliations.* However, the connection between affiliation and giving is stronger for Jewish than non-Jewish causes. The moderately affiliated are about three to four times as likely and the highly affiliated about five times as likely to donate to federation and other Jewish causes than are the unaffiliated. Causal order cannot be disentangled, but Jewish affiliation and charitable giving are clearly bound together, suggesting that Jewish causes in general and federations in particular have a strong interest in Jews joining and supporting synagogues, JCCs and other Jewish organizations.

Lastly, philanthropic behavior is closely linked to income. The frequency of giving to all three types of causes increases as income rises. In general, those at the top of the income scale -- earning more than $150,000 annually -- give two to three times more often than those who earn less than $25,000 a year.

*Topics with asterisks refer to respondents who answered the survey's long form, representing a population of 4.3 million Jewish adults and children.

[5] More information on this estimation procedure is available from the UJC research staff. Other than this estimation, all other findings in this report on federation giving are restricted to the Jewish population of 4.3 million.

[6] Life cycle effects may play a role in charitable giving even among adults age 35-64, because occupational prestige and in turn income tends to increase throughout the adult years. Nonetheless, age-related differences in giving across federation, other Jewish and non-Jewish causes are notable.

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