Men are falling behind women and couples in their commitment to charitable giving during the years surrounding retirement, according to a study released Tuesday.
Single women and married couples are more likely to give to charities, give more money and give more consistently than single men, said a study of 6,012 people published by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, which is part of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University.
The participants in the study were questioned over a 10-year period from five years before retirement to five years after. Ninety percent of married couples said they to gave charity five years before retirement, but that dropped to 82 percent when they were asked five years after retirement.
Among single women asked the same question, the drop was from 78 percent to 69 percent. Among single men, the percentage went from 68 percent to 40 percent.
Likewise, couples and single women are more likely than single men to volunteer their time to charities, the study said.
Women tend to spread out their charitable giving to as variety of charities more than men, and women are more constant in supporting organizations throughout their lives, the report said. Men tend to be more transactional in their giving, often responding to personal appeals and not engaging as deeply with the organizations they support as women.
“Women’s deeper engagement and loyalty to the causes they support may lead to more sustained giving, which helps explain their more stable levels of giving around retirement,” the Women’s Philanthropy Institute said. “Women’s and men’s life journeys may differ; women often assume more responsibility for parenting and caregiving along the journey, and women may have less in retirement savings. Despite this fact, charitable giving remains a high priority for women whether single or married.