Good Tuesday morning and moadim lesimcha!
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we examine a new Generosity Commission study breaking down the types and motivations of people who donate money and volunteer, and preview a new five-part Fox Nation documentary series on religion that includes a segment on the “Surge” in American Jews’ religious engagement post-Oct. 7. We feature an opinion piece by Rabbi Tarlan Rabidazeh offering an Iranian-American Jewish perspective on the current war with Iran and what’s at stake; one by Gidi Grinstein drawing lessons for American Jewry from the experiences of previous “Great Diasporas”; and one by Rabbi David Fainsilber sharing his rural synagogue community’s approach to navigating polarizing times. Also in this issue: Nadav Eyal, Georgia state Rep. Esther Panitch and Maj. (res.) Asaf Dagan.
Ed. note: In observance of Passover, the next edition of Your Daily Phil will arrive on Friday, April 10 — chag sameach!
What We’re Watching
President Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — or face attacks on its power grids and bridges — expires at 8 p.m. ET.
The Trump administration’s Board of Peace has given Hamas until the end of the week to accept a disarmament proposal.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD FROM EJP’S JAY DEITCHER
What kinds of people give, and what or who motivates them? Those are the questions a new Generosity Commission study set out to answer.
And it turns out that giving, together with volunteering, is largely tied to values. Respondents in the survey, titled “How and Why We Give,” said that what mattered in their giving and volunteering is that the action aligned with their passions, with 61% saying that giving and volunteering are ways they express their values. Only 6% of respondents were motivated to give by tax breaks, and 3% were motivated by impressing others.
The responses in the study varied widely, effectively offering nonprofits a road map to understanding and reaching their target demographics. The 70-page report was conducted by Hattaway Communications and released late last month by the Generosity Commission, a nonpartisan group of philanthropic leaders launched in October 2021 by The Giving Institute and Giving USA Foundation. Results were collected from tweets and news articles to see what conversations about giving were gaining traction across the nation, as well as a 2022 study of 2,569 U.S. adults and a series of focus groups.
Respondents said they wanted to see tangible results from their actions, which often led them to local initiatives, with participants donating clothes, food or money in ways that could be seen and felt. The majority of respondents valued nonprofits that were transparent, with 67% wanting to know how their money was spent.
The media section of the report showed that while celebrities’ giving and volunteering took up a disproportionate amount of the media conversation, only 9% of respondents cared to hear from celebrities about which causes to support. On the other hand, more than half of respondents trusted friends’ opinions on giving, followed closely by relatives’ and neighbors’. Only around 10% trusted the views of elected officials, journalists or business leaders on giving. Participants also tended to look to social media to gain information about where to give, before email, news or snail mail.
Respondents in the study fell into six groupings: “Super givers,” who were demographically older, higher income, Democrats and suburban; “Connection seekers,” who aspired to give and were often younger, religious, women and politically independent or Republican; “Next-generation doers,” who were younger, racially diverse and skewed Democrat, male and urban; “Civic-minded hopefuls,” who were often white, progressive, women and not religious; “Show-me scrutinizers,” who gave, often to local and religious causes, yet were skeptical of philanthropy, and were often white, older and male; and “apathetic non-givers,” who were often rural, non-religious, politically independent and lacked hope that their actions could trigger change. The final category gave the least and believed that institutions such as businesses and the government should be responsible for helping Americans.
No matter the group, the study showed, people wanted to see tangible results that tapped into their specific values.
Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.