DOI: 10.6077/r9zk-zx75
title: Independent Sector Survey on Giving and Volunteering, 1990

description: &lt;p&gt;In 1990, INDEPENDENT SECTOR commissioned the Gallup Organization to conduct a national survey on the giving and volunteering behavior of Americans. This survey is the second of a series of surveys that are conducted every two years in order to establish reliable trend information. This new series of national surveys include a wealth of new details on giving, volunteering, and motivations for such behavior. The 1990 survey continues to build on the information collected in the 1988 survey in order to establish trend data over a period of time. This survey addresses the following questions: 1. Who gives and volunteers? To whom? How much? 2. What determines giving and volunteering behavior? 3. What are the motivations for giving and volunteering to various types of charitable causes? 4. Is there a relationship between giving and volunteering to religious organizations and giving and volunteering to other charities? 5. What are public attitudes toward giving, volunteering, and the performance of charitable organizations? The study gives special attention to the demographic characteristics of givers and volunteers. Since the demography of the American population is changing rapidly, it is especially important to trace the level of participation of various population groups in the tradition of giving and voluntary service. Therefore, special attention is given to the giving and volunteering behavior of blacks, Hispanics, and recent immigrants. This study continues INDEPENDENT SECTOR's effort to encourage and occasionally sponsor research on motivations for giving and volunteering. In this survey, all participants were asked a series of questions relating to their personal goals, values, and attitudes toward contributing time and money. Participants also were asked about the people and institutions, such as their employer, who influenced or encouraged their voluntary behavior. Furthermore, detailed questions were asked about giving and volunteering to a wide variety of nonprofit organizations, including religious organizations. The information included in this report was obtained from in-home personal interviews conducted from March 23 to May 20, 1990, with a representative sample of 2,727 adult Americans 18 years of age or older. This sample included oversamples of blacks, Hispanics, and affluent Americans (household incomes over $60,000) in order to have enough respondents to carry out statistically reliable analyses of these groups. Interviews were conducted in English and, when applicable, in Spanish. The sampling procedure did not target the very Giving and Volunteering.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please Note&lt;/strong&gt;: This dataset is part of the historical CISER Data Archive Collection and is also available at the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at &lt;a href="https://doi.org/10.25940/ROPER-31089314"&gt;https://doi.org/10.25940/ROPER-31089314&lt;/a&gt;. We highly recommend using the Roper Center version as they may make this dataset available in multiple data formats in the future.&lt;/p&gt;
description: Independent Sector Survey on Giving and Volunteering