Business Research Unit (UNIDE-IUL) / Instituto Universitário de Lisboa

Ed. ISCTE-IUL, Av. Forças Armadas 1649-026 Lisbon – Portugal Phone: 210 464 019 E-mail: bru-unide@iscte.pt Internet: http://www.bru-unide.iscte.pt/

WHO IS GIVING THESE DAYS?

ON THE ROLE OF RELIGIOSITY IN GIVING

Madalena Eça de Abreu (mabreu@iscac.pt),

Coimbra Business School, IPC e Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL),

BRU-IUL, Lisboa, Portugal.

Raul M. S. Laureano (raul.laureano@iscte.pt),

Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), BRU-IUL, Lisboa, Portugal.

Rui Vinhas da Silva (Rui.Vinhas.Silva@iscte.pt),

Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), BRU-IUL, Lisboa, Portugal.

ESA Sociology of Religion Research Network - Conference Religion in the Public Domain Belfast, 2014

Agenda

1. Statement of the problem

2. Introduction

3. Main literature review

4. Research Design and Sample

5. Findings

6. Conclusions

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This paper aims to uncover...

the influence of a donor’s “experience of religion” on its donations practices.

we want to deepen understanding of the relation between

religion and donations practices

and thus enhance fundraising practices in Not-for-profit Organizations (NFPO).

•although limited to the Portuguese context, they launch a new debate for the impact

religion may have on donations

Private donations are becoming immensely

important and decisive for NFPO’s social

and economical survival, being this

situation also occurring in Portugal.

Don’t forget! IMPORTANT ROLE of the Catholic church in Portugal

… 3 main reasons can explain this role…

1. The Catholic Church

historical role

2. Relation between

the Church and the State

3. Religiousness

of the Portuguese people

INTRODUCTION (and also...)

Increasingly competitive donations market for

religious organizations

These organizations have turned to marketing to

increase income from donations... developing its

competences and operations in fundraising and...

Have been obliged to develop different attitudes and

operational activities.

MAIN LITERATURE REVIEW

An extensive list of scales for measuring religion

like religious beliefs,

religious attitudes,

religious developments,

religious involvement,

religious orientation,

and religious experience,

among others.

Concerning the donor issue, the category

“religious person” is far from a simple

construct.

MAIN LITERATURE REVIEW

Religiosity is often criticised by losing

the valuable information about the

context of participation …

Religiosity is one of the topics most investigated in relation to

the psychology of religious activities, and has been positively

associated with generosity and giving (Payne, 1982. In Mangen and

Peterson, Eds.; Reitsma, 2007; Watson et al., 1985).

Religiosity: a multidimensional variable enlightening different

measures like belief, experience, religious practice, religious

knowledge, individual moral consequences, and social

consequences.

.

SO…

This popular view that religiosity increases the charitable

behavior of the people has not been fully accepted (Batson,

1976; Batson & Flory, 1990; Batson et al., 1989; Chang-Ho, Lori, & Pery,

2006; Reistma, Scheepers, & Te Grotenhuis, 2006; Shariff & Norenzayan,

2007).

MAIN LITERATURE REVIEW

• the degree to which beliefs and religious values are practiced and experienced by a person (Tienen, Scheepers, Reitsma, & Schilderman, 2010).

religiosity

• the adherence of individuals to a particular religious group, within the public sphere of denominations (Essoo & Dibb, 2004)

religious affiliation

major

dimensions in

the realm of

religion also

indicating the

level of giving

(Bekkers &

Wiepking, 2010;

Chaves & Tsitsos,

2001; Clain & Zech,

1999; Eckel &

Grossman, 2004)..

donor’s “experience of religion” on its donations practices

Furthermore, it is accepted by the literature that contributions to religious organizations are

based on involvement in the religious community: churchgoers give more just because

they are asked more frequently (Chaves and Miller, 1999; Garcia-Mainar and Marcuello, 2007;

Mattis et al., 2004; Wilhelm et al., 2007).

But little is known as to whether non church goers who donate, and religious

donors with the same level of religiosity as the former, have a similar level of

donation.

In fact, Saroglou et al. (2004) suggest that the impact of religiousness on donations

among religious people is limited but exists.

MAIN LITERATURE REVIEW

Bekkers and Schuyt (2008) use two different hypotheses to explain the generosity of religious

people: their conviction and the community.

The conviction reason means that religious people give because they are influenced in their

opinions of what is the right thing to do and that they should care for other people.

The community reason refers to the social context that is created for people to give; people

have more information, more opportunities to give, and are encouraged to do so as well.

Esposito and Foote (2002) explore the family as

a strong driver for generous donors, and they

draw the hypotheses that there is a great power

generated by the convergence of three societal

institutions:

faith-guided generosity,

family support, and

well-funded giving vehicle.

donor’s “experience of religion” on its donations practices

MAIN LITERATURE REVIEW

METHODOLOGY

A massive survey was administered to the donors of the Portuguese charities

(A large scale questionnaire was delivered to the organizations the 3rd of February

of 2010, being on-line till the 9th of April 2010 )

five types of charities

1. Foundations;

2. Holy houses of Mercy;

3. Nongovernmental organizations of cooperation for

development;

4. Associations + Private Institutions of Social

Solidarity (IPSS);

5. and Museums

METHODOLOGY

Religious affiliation considered in three

possible options:

1. religious,

2. religious but non church goer,

3. and secular.

Religiosity measured

1. practice,

2. belief,

3. experience and

4. consequences among church members and non-members Reistma (2007)

Measures for fundraising decisions:

religiosity, religious affiliation, frequency of donations, the type

of organization being helped, and the level of donations.

(51-200 Euros or Plus) (50 Euros or less)

donations practices

METHODOLOGY

Descriptive and Bi-variate techniques were

applied for further analysis.

All the scales were validated.

RESULTS

612 questionnaires were completed on the 9th of April 2010.

34% were male, and aged between 15 and 77 years old

51.4% religious,

28.3% non-church goer and

20.3% secular donors

RESULTS

Type of charity Donors

(total=612)

%

(100%)

Donors

(total=434)

%

(100%)

Not a regular donor 178 29.1 NA N.A Regular donor to a religious organization 97 15.8 97 22.4 Regular donor to a secular organization 115 18.8 115 26.5 Donor to both organizations 222 36.3 222 51.2

Level of donations Donors

(total=612)

%

(100%)

Donors

(total=612)

%

(100%)

Low value donation 198 32.4 Just coins 64 10.5 5 – 20 Euros 134 21.9

High value donation 414 67.6 21 – 50 Euros 149 24.3

51-200 Euros 139 22.7

Plus than 200 126 20.6

Type of Nonprofit

organization Low level High level Total

Religious 10 (19%) 78 (81%) 97 (100%) Secular 26 (22%) 89 (78%) 115 (100%)

Both organizations 34 (15%) 188 (85%) 222 (100%)

Total 79 (18.2%) 355 (87.8%) 434 (100%)

donations practices

The association between

• frequency of donations and religious affiliation is weak

(Cramer’s V = 0.320);

• level of donations and religious affiliation is weak (Cramer’s V =

0.300);

• the type of organization and religious affiliation is

moderated (Cramer’s V = 0.427).

RESULTS Religious affiliation and donations practices

RESULTS Religious affiliation and donations practices

Religious Affliation

Religious Non church goer Secular

Regular Donor No 44 (14.0%) 81 (46.8%) 53 (42.7%)

Yes 271 (86.0%) 92 (53.2%) 71 (57.3%)

n=612

Religious Affliation Total

Religious Non church goer Secular

Not a donor 44 (14.0%) 81(46.8%) 53 (42.7%) 178 (29.1%)

Donor Religious Organization 84 (26.7%) 10 (5.8%) 3 (2.4%) 97 (15.8%)

Donor Secular Organization 23 (7.3%) 36 (20.8%) 56 (45.20% 115 (18.8%)

Donor to both Organizations 164 (52.1%) 46 (26.6%) 12 (9.7%) 222 (36.3%)

n=612 315 (100%) 173 (100%) 124 (100%) 612(100%)

Religious Affliation

Total

Religious

Non church

goer Secular

Level of donations

(High level donation)

No 59 (18.7%) 80 (46.2%) 59 (47.6%) 198 (32.4%)

Yes 256 (81.3%) 93 (53.8%) 65 (52.4%) 414 (67.6%)

RESULTS religiosity and donations practices

All three relations under scrutiny are moderated:

• between religiosity and frequency of donations (Eta = 0.528),

• between religiosity and type of organization (Eta = 0.451), and

• between religiosity and level of donations (Eta = 0.510).

RESULTS religiosity (scale 1 to 5) and religious affiliation

Religious Affliation

Religious Non church goer Secular

Religiosity 4.41 3.17 1.64

Religiosity church members 4.38 3.20 1.85

Religiosity non church members 3.12 3.25 2.27

Practice church members 4.22 2.97 2.00

Belief church members 4.37 3.37 2.09

RESULTS Religiosity and religious affiliation

Valid N Mean

Standard

Deviation Minimum

Percentile

25 Median

Percentile

75 Maximum

No 97 4.23 .59 1.63 3.93 4.30 4.70 5.00

Yes 218 4.49 .49 2.00 4.37 4.67 4.83 5.00

No 132 3.09 .87 1.00 2.47 3.20 3.78 4.67

Yes 41 3.45 .79 1.50 2.87 3.47 4.07 4.67

No 113 1.60 .73 1.00 1.07 1.30 1.87 4.33

Yes 11 2.06 1.28 1.00 1.07 1.17 3.13 4.30

No 342 2.92 1.28 1.00 1.73 3.08 4.10 5.00

Yes 270 4.24 .83 1.00 4.00 4.53 4.80 5.00

Religiosity3D

Religious

Affliation

Religious Regular Donor to Religious

Organization

Non

church

goer

Regular Donor to Religious

Organization

Secular Regular Donor to Religious

Organization

Total Regular Donor to Religious

Organization

RESULTS Religiosity and

religious affiliation

Valid N Mean

Standard

Deviation Minimum

Percentile

25 Median

Percentile

75 Maximum

Donor to a Religious

organization

84 4.44 .55 2.00 4.20 4.65 4.80 5.00

Donor to a Secular

organization

23 4.46 .40 3.33 4.27 4.57 4.77 5.00

Donor to both organizations 164 4.45 .51 2.00 4.27 4.63 4.83 5.00

Donor to a Religious

organization

10 3.41 1.03 1.50 2.70 3.55 4.27 4.67

Donor to a Secular

organization

36 3.20 .81 1.33 2.62 3.27 3.82 4.67

Donor to both organizations 46 3.36 .72 1.90 2.83 3.38 3.90 4.67

Donor to a Religious

organization

3 1.13 .06 1.07 1.07 1.17 1.17 1.17

Donor to a Secular

organization

56 1.59 .70 1.00 1.05 1.33 1.85 3.53

Donor to both organizations 12 2.30 1.22 1.00 1.07 1.98 3.33 4.30

Donor to a Religious

organization

97 4.23 .88 1.07 4.00 4.53 4.80 5.00

Donor to a Secular

organization

115 2.67 1.33 1.00 1.33 2.63 3.90 5.00

Donor to both organizations 222 4.11 .87 1.00 3.67 4.43 4.70 5.00

Religiosity3D

Religious

Affliation

Religious Type of

organization

Non church

goer

Type of

organization

Secular Type of

organization

Total Type of

organization

RESULTS Religiosity and religious affiliation

(51-200 Euros or Plus)

(50 Euros or less)

Valid N Mean

Standard

Deviation Minimum

Percentile

25 Median

Percentile

75 Maximum

No 59 4.15 .74 1.63 3.70 4.33 4.70 4.97

Yes 256 4.47 .46 2.00 4.25 4.63 4.83 5.00

No 80 3.04 .88 1.00 2.40 3.12 3.72 4.53

Yes 93 3.29 .83 1.30 2.80 3.37 3.90 4.67

No 59 1.50 .54 1.00 1.13 1.23 1.83 3.13

Yes 65 1.77 .96 1.00 1.03 1.37 2.17 4.33

No 198 2.91 1.27 1.00 1.73 3.03 4.03 4.97

Yes 414 3.78 1.19 1.00 3.23 4.23 4.67 5.00

Religiosity3D

Religious

Affliation

Religious High level

donation

Non

church

goer

High level

donation

Secular High level

donation

Total High level

donation

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates that non religious people, but

displacing a high level of religiosity, also tend to give high

donations and choose both religious as secular

organizations for their donations.

Andso... charities can look upon the joint impact of religious

affiliation and religiosity: higher level of religiosity for the ones who

are not religious can increase their level of donations.

não há grandes diferenças no nível médio de religiosidade entre quem dá muito e quem dá pouco, qualquer que seja a sua afiliação religiosa.

O mesmo para as outras variáveis dos donativos.

Talvez apenas nos seculares se encontre um pouco mais de religiosidade em quem dá mais, é regular e dá para as duas organizações.

THANK YOU

Business Research Unit (UNIDE-IUL) / Instituto Universitário de Lisboa

Ed. ISCTE-IUL, Av. Forças Armadas 1649-026 Lisbon – Portugal

Phone: 210 464 019 E-mail: bru-unide@iscte.pt

Internet: http://www.bru-unide.iscte.pt/