The same goes for Orange County residents, who rank keeping taxes down as their top motivation for giving money to charity, according to UC Irvine s 1997 Orange County Annual Survey. The random-sample telephone survey of 1,002 adult residents was conducted by Mark Baldassare, professor and chair of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in the UCI School of Social Ecology, and research associate Cheryl Katz. The survey period was Sept. 4-14, and the margin of error is plus or minus 3 percent. The questions on charitable attitudes were sponsored by Fidelity Investments. County residents traditionally donate less to charity than might be expected in a region known for its affluence, and Baldassare and Katz added a number of questions to this year s survey to provide a more in-depth look at what motivates people to give.
More affluent residents are no more likely than others to say they have made a charitable bequest.
Thirty-two percent of residents say they were not asked to give to a charitable organization in the past year, while 67 percent say they have been solicited. Although Latinos represent a quarter of the county s population and one of the fastest-growing consumer groups, most Latino households have not been asked to give.