Women More Strategic in Charitable Giving

While we have done plenty of legwork to help you choose a charity that needs some holiday help or that uses donations to feed the hungry, a study from Bank of America(BAC) suggests the research may be lost on men.

The study found that women are much more strategic when it comes to charitable giving, taking the time to research organizations and budget for donations before they write checks. Ultimately, however, women are more apt to give when they feel personally connected to a charity.

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Among the report's top-ranked reasons for donating to a particular nonprofit, women cited personal experience with a nonprofit (82% of women versus 73% of men) and the organization's ability to communicate its impact (46% of women versus 32% of men) as top factors that motivate them to give.Men, on the other hand, are much more likely to simply give to the same charity year after year, the study found. They're also less inclined to donate as a way to set an example for young people (43.6% of women versus 25.1% of men). The study, meant to establish charitable giving patterns among affluent women, is based on interviews with 911 people (628 men and 283 women) who give more than $10,000 a year to charity. The results indicate that nonprofit organizations interested in retaining their affluent male and female donors should refrain from being overly pushy, as too-frequent solicitations and inappropriate monetary requests were cited by both genders as a primary reason for cutting a charity off. Follow TheStreet.com on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

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