Biggest believers in the value of championing causes? Women.
- Thu, May 26 2011
- Filed under: Marketing essentials
Eight in ten American women strongly believe in the power of individuals to make a difference by supporting causes, while their male counterparts are more likely to view supporting causes as a fad. This is according to new data from Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide and Georgetown University’s Center for Social Impact Communication.
In addition, American women are more likely than men to believe that supporting causes creates a sense of purpose and meaning in life, makes them feel good about themselves and makes them feel like part of a community. More than four in ten Americans (45%) are actively involved with supporting causes, and women make up a significantly larger part of this group than men. According to the study,
“Men and women are generally in agreement when it comes to which particular causes they choose to support. For both, feeding the hungry and supporting our troops are among those that rank the highest, and as expected, gender-related health issues like breast cancer and prostate cancer are significantly more likely to be supported by women and men, respectively. In addition, survey results indicate that women are more compelled to support youth-related causes like bullying and childhood obesity, while men are more likely to support the Tea Party movement.”
At Network for Good, we’ve seen some anecdotal evidence that this is true in our friends-to-friends fundraising campaigns at Six Degrees.
Here are some additional interesting findings. An overview of the study is here. Thanks to Georgetown for sharing the findings!
Comments
I’ve heard a saying in women’s philanthropic circles (which I realize is a different thing than cause marketing) about their process for engaging: Time, Talent, Treasure (in that order). It’d be interesting if there were a way to see how the men reached their 41% for donating money and how women reached their 42%. My presumption would be that men tend to go right for the checkbook (and check it off the to-do list), where women’s process takes longer and by the time they donate money they’ve likely already volunteered or served on a board/donated “talent.” Thanks for sharing these Georgetown stats. Food for thought!