Nearly one in three women (31.1 percent) give to a crowdfunding campaign in a typical year, compared with 32.4 percent of men, a report from the Women's Philanthropy Institute at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy finds.

Based on a survey of more than fifteen hundred adults fielded in September 2020, the report, Gender and Crowdfunding (24 pages, PDF), found that 40.8 percent of women and 40.1 percent of men had given to a crowdfunding campaign at least once, while 34 percent of women and 31.4 percent of men reported giving charitably via social media platforms in a typical year. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the report found that among women who had given to crowdfunding campaigns, 31.3 percent said they planned to increase such giving over the next three years, compared with 25.7 percent of men, while 63.3 percent said they planned to maintain current giving levels. Among all women respondents, however, 50.2 percent said they didn't know whether they would increase their giving to crowdfunding campaigns.

According to the report, women who give to crowdfunding campaigns tend to be younger, have higher educational attainment, and are more concentrated in the western United States compared with women who do not. In terms of race/ethnicity, Black women were slightly more likely than Hispanic/Latina and white women to contribute to a crowdfunding project (33.3 percent vs. 31.2 percent and 30.2 percent), more likely to volunteer (58.1 percent vs. 53.2 percent and 46.2 percent), and significantly more likely to give to people they know (89.8 percent vs. 74.4 percent and 68.6 percent) and to give to strangers (80.5 percent vs. 60.5 percent and 44.1 percent). In 2019, women were most likely to support crowdfunding campaigns for family members or close friends (52.3 percent) and charitable organizations (48.8 percent), followed by those of acquaintances (34.1 percent), strangers (27.9 percent), projects for non-financial benefits (12.3 percent), and for-profit crowdfunding ventures (3.3 percent).

The study also found that women's top motivations for donating to crowdfunding campaigns or via social media platforms were to make a difference (84.8 percent), address issues close to them (80.2 percent), and to give back to their community (74.8 percent); women were significantly less likely than men to say they were motivated to give by a celebrity or influencer on social media (13.5 percent of women vs. 23 percent of men) or outside social media (15.7 percent vs. 25.6 percent). Women crowdfunding donors also were reluctant to ask their friends or family directly to give, with a majority reporting never asking on social media (64 percent) or outside social media (60.9 percent). And while 56.7 percent of women said crowdfunding made it easy to support a project and 55.9 percent believed it was a good way to highlight projects or organizations, 53.3 percent expressed concern about the transparency and accountability of crowdfunding platforms and fundraisers.

"Overall, there is an incredible opportunity to grow this giving from women generally and from women with diverse backgrounds — and young women in particular," said Una Osili, associate dean for research and international programs at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. "To fully realize this potential, fundraisers and social platforms alike must learn to better engage these donors, especially through building trust, knowledge, and community."