They say money does not buy happiness, but a new study suggests that giving money away can indeed make you happy.

Those who give money away are happier than those who don't, and the more they give, the happier they are, according to a survey by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute.

The study asked 10,375 adults to rate their happiness level on a scale of one to five on a number of philanthropic questions, some of them dealing with how much happiness is generated by giving to charity.

Women and men who give to charity are happier than those who don’t and the more they give the happier they say they are, the study found.

However, women and men experience that happiness in different ways, the study says.

Men receive a greater boost in happiness when they first become donors, while women report feeling happier when they can increase the amount of their incomes that they donate. When women drive or participate equally in charitable decisions, the entire family is happier, the study shows.

“These results show that giving is good for the donor as well as the recipient, and the report provides new insights that help us better understand the ‘joy of giving,’” said Dr. Debra J. Mesch, director of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute and the Eileen Lamb O’Gara Chair in Women’s Philanthropy at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. The Women’s Philanthropy Institute is part of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy,

“We know that people experience greater life satisfaction when they have better health, lower stress levels, and so forth. We now know that giving also adds to life satisfaction, not just for individuals but for their entire families,” she added.

The more a household gives as a percentage of income, the higher the household’s life satisfaction. The impact of giving is greater in middle- and lower-income households. For instance, in households where charitable decisions are driven by women and more than 2 percent of the income is given to charity, households making less than $100,000 per year experience more of a boost in life satisfaction from giving than those making $100,000 or more, according to the study.

“When nonprofit leaders are able to appreciate and adapt to the different ways that men, women and families derive happiness from giving, they can more effectively engage their donors, and donors will gain greater joy from their gift,” said Dr. Una Osili, associate dean for research and international programs at the Lilly School of Philanthropy.