Nearly half of Americans say they are unclear about what "charity impact" means, a report from the BBB Wise Giving Alliance's Give.org finds.

Based on a survey of more than twenty-one hundred adults, the report, Charity Impact: 2021 Give.org Donor Trust Special Report, found that 46.7 percent of respondents said they did not know (19.1 percent) or were not sure (27.6 percent) what the term means, including 47 percent of mature, 43 percent of boomer, 54 percent of Gen X, 45 percent of millennial, and 43 percent of Gen Z respondents. When asked to consider possible definitions for "charity impact," survey participants were split between "organizations reaching defined goals" (26 percent), "how efficient the organization was in its spending" (22 percent), "the quality of the organization's programs" (18 percent), and "achievement numbers" (14 percent).

When asked about the factors that influence their giving, respondents were most likely to cite their level of trust in a specific charity (40 percent) as important, followed by information on the charity's impact (31 percent), financial ratios (28 percent), an instinctive or gut feeling (25 percent), stories about the charity's work (21 percent), and their relationship with the charity (20 percent). Trust was the top factor across all age groups, while the second most common factor was impact for all groups except boomers, who were more likely to consider financial ratios. Among respondents who gave at least $51 to charity in 2020, trust was also the most common factor, followed by impact, while among those who gave between $1 and $50, impact was the most popular response.

The survey also found that respondents were more likely to rate the long-term results of a charity's work as important than the immediate results (32 percent vs. 19 percent), with the emphasis on long-term outcomes more salient among mature (28 percent vs. 12 percent) and boomer (31 percent vs. 16 percent) respondents, as well as donors who gave more than $5,000 last year (44 percent vs. 25 percent). In addition, while all age groups were more likely to rate program quality as important than program reach (38 percent vs. 32 percent), younger respondents were slightly more likely than older respondents to value reach and older groups were more likely than younger groups to value quality. Impact statements touting "bang for your buck," however, came across as untrustworthy, especially for older respondents.

"While it has become a common assumption that donors want to support highly impactful organizations, survey results show that the donating public does not have a clear understanding of the term," said H. Art Taylor, president and CEO of BBB's Give.org, "What is more, although people care about immediate results, volume of programs, and the accomplishments of their own contributions, they report attributing higher importance to long-term results, depth of programs, and the overall accomplishments and capacity of the organization."