It’s too soon to know whether Americans are giving more since the election, or whether people are diverting funds from causes they supported in the past toward hot-button political causes.
Katherina M. Rosqueta, founding executive director for the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania, said Americans have consistently donated between 2 percent and 2.5 percent of their income annually over recent decades without much fluctuation.
Rosqueta said researchers who study philanthropy had predicted that politically charged donations would cool off after a while, much like donations to causes after natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina or the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
“But that’s not the case,” she said. “Depending on what’s in the news, you’re seeing big increases.”
Read the full article on the Boston Globe.