Merriam-Webster defines psychographics as “market research or statistics classifying population groups according to psychological variables (such as attitudes, values, or fears).” When looking at donors, we wanted to know their attitudes and life experiences. This post shares some of the life experience results of our 2017 major donor survey.

We wanted to know if childhood experiences had any effect on adult giving to charitable causes. So one of the areas we asked about was childhood participation in extracurricular activities. More than one out of four who responded to this question indicated that they had participated in extracurricular activities “a lot” as a child.

Childhood Extracurricular Activities
		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent
Valid	No, not at all	42	10.2	16.0
	A little bit	54	13.2	20.6
	An average amount	65	15.9	24.8
	Quite a bit	33	8.0	12.6
	A lot	68	16.6	26.0
	Total	262	63.9	100.0
Missing		148	36.1
Total		410	100.0

Roughly the same percentage said they volunteers “a lot” when they were young.

Childhood Volunteering
		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent
Valid	No, not at all	37	9.0	13.7
	A little bit	68	16.6	25.2
	An average amount	51	12.4	18.9
	Quite a bit	47	11.5	17.4
	A lot	67	16.3	24.8
	Total	270	65.9	100.0
Missing		140	34.1
Total		410	100.0

And about 23 percent indicated they attended religious services “a lot” as a child; 22 percent said they attended “quite a bit.”

Childhood Attendance at Religious Services
		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent
Valid	No, not at all	54	13.2	20
	A little bit	50	12.2	18.5
	An average amount	43	10.5	15.9
	Quite a bit	60	14.6	22.2
	A lot	63	15.4	23.3
	Total	270	65.9	100
Missing		140	34.1
Total		410	100

We asked about childhood traumatic experiences such as death of an immediate family member, serious injury or illness (either themselves or an immediate family member), divorce of your parents, witnessing or being a victim of domestic violence, being a victim of any type of abuse, household member being incarcerated, substance abuse in the home, or being a victim of crime. Possible responses were “yes” and “no.” Of the 410 interviewees, nearly 65 percent (266 respondents) refused to indicate whether they had experienced such trauma.

Childhood Traumatic Experience
		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent
Valid	Yes	77	18.8	53.5
	No	67	16.3	46.5
	Total	144	35.1	100.0
Missing		266	64.9
Total		410	100.0

We tested for two adult experiences: participation in civic groups and attendance at religious services. Of those who responded to the former, 28.5 percent were not only members of civic groups, but were leaders in the groups.

Adult Participation in Civic Groups
		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent
Valid	No, not at all	41	10	14.6
	A member, but not an active participant	46	11.2	16.4
	A member, with average participation	49	12	17.4
	A member, with more than average participation	65	15.9	23.1
	A member, with active leadership, committee, or other responsibilities	80	19.5	28.5
	Total	281	68.5	100
Missing		129	31.5
Total		410	100

 

And of those who responded to the question about attendance at religious services, one-third said they do not attend at all.

Adult Attendance at Religious Services
		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent
Valid	No, not at all	90	22.0	33.2
	A little bit	60	14.6	22.1
	An average amount	13	3.2	4.8
	Quite a bit	57	13.9	21.0
	A lot	51	12.4	18.8
	Total	271	66.1	100.0
Missing		139	33.9
Total		410	100.0

In Part III, we’ll share the results of the personal values test known as Kahle’s List of Values.