Women's Philanthropy Institute

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Who Decides in Giving to Education? A Study of Charitable Giving by Married Couples
(7/26/2007) Rooney, Patrick; Mesch, Debra; Brown, Eleanor
Using data from the Center on Philanthropy Panel Study and the Panel Study on Income Dynamics, we analyzed whether husbands or wives were more likely to determine whether and how much money to donate to educational institutions. Among donor households, we are able to examine what socio-economic-demographic factors explain differences in whether men or women are more likely to decide to give to educational institutions. We also compare the “who decides” question for education to who decides about giving overall. We find that after controlling for other factors in multiple regression analyses, the educational attainment of both spouses is positively associated with increased giving to education, as is the number of children living at home, family income, and wealth (excluding home values). The age of the husband does not matter but there is a positive association with the age of the wife and amounts given to education. Men have little or no influence on the decision to give to education at all or the amounts donated to education. Conversely, women decision-makers are more likely to have a positive effect on both the likelihood of giving to education and the amounts given to education.