What inspires you to give? New survey has answers

What factors influence your decision to support a particular charity? A new survey sheds some light on this question.

For one, religion might not have as great of an impact as might be assumed. Indeed, according to the Heart of the Donor study, commissioned by the Russ Reid Company, only a minority of religious donors support specifically religious work through non-profit organizations.

"It's possible some religious donors are supporting disaster relief or domestic hunger through overtly religious organizations, but that's not how they're thinking of the work that's being done," explained Ron Sellers, president of Grey Matter Research, which conducted the study. "However, only 18% of donors who regularly attend worship services prefer supporting organizations which have their religious beliefs as a major part of everything they do, and 28% prefer organizations that have a religious background but which are not necessarily conducting religious work.

In addition to religion, the study, which surveyed over 2000 American adults by phone or online, explored what impact one's age, ethnicity or political beliefs may have on their charitable giving.

Here is what it found....

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