While overall charitable giving increased across all household types between May 2020 and May 2021, single men were more likely to increase their giving than single women and married/partnered couples, a report from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy Women’s Philanthropy Institute finds.

Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the report, COVID-19, Generosity, and Gender: How Giving Changed During the First Year of a Global Pandemic (28 pages, PDF), found that the share of households reporting giving directly to charities, individuals, or businesses for COVID-19 relief increased from 31.8 percent in May 2020 to 41.1 percent in May 2021. More than a quarter (25.3 percent) of all households in the survey gave more in support of nonprofits addressing basic needs and health and 15.9 percent gave less; 19.4 percent gave more to religious organizations and 14.7 percent gave less; and 21.2 percent gave more to all other charities and 16.6 percent gave less.

The percentage of single men who boosted their giving to basic needs and health nonprofits was 10.4 percentage points higher than the percentage of those who reduced their giving, compared with 3.7 percentage points among single women and 10.9 percentage points among couples; for religious organizations, 10.2 percentage points among single men, 2.5 percentage points among women, and 3.9 percentage points among couples; and for all other charities, 11.3 percentage points for single men, 0.2 percentage points for single women, and 4.2 percentage points for couples.

The differences are even starker when the reference point is moved back to before the COVID-19 pandemic began in the United States in March 2020: The percentages of single men and couples who gave more in May 2021 than pre-pandemic to basic needs and health nonprofits were 10.8 percentage points and 15.5 percentage points higher than those who gave less, compared with just 1.6 percentage points among single women. The share of single women who gave more in May 2021 than pre-pandemic to religious organizations and all other charities were 14.1 percentage points and 18.5 percent lower than those who gave less, compared with 2.9 percentage points and 2.3 percentage points lower among single men and 6.5 percentage points and 8.2 percentage points lower among couples.

The report’s authors note that this trend differs from previous research from WPI and others, which has consistently shown that single women and couples are more likely to give than similarly situated single men, suggesting that the pandemic impacted the financial situations of not only single women but also couples.

“Across all measures, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected women, and created unprecedented stress for parents, particularly in BIPOC communities,” said Women’s Philanthropy Institute director Jeannie Sager. “Women, especially mothers of school-aged children, are leaving the workforce in high numbers. The findings from this report suggest that this consistent pressure has affected not only women’s giving but couples’ philanthropy as well.”

(Photo credit: GettyImages/serts)