From good intentions to action: how Germans’ willingness to donate has changed
At the turn of the year, many people make good resolutions – often involving self-optimization or the need to do something good for others, for example by donating to charity. But which areas of donation are most in demand, and how has Germans’ willingness to donate changed in recent years? Since donation patterns are also an indicator of social values and priorities that reveal economic and social dynamics, we at the BSBI investigated this question in a study and were able to identify the following trends in this context: Using the Google search volume of 50 donation terms, we analyzed the developments in the months of December, which experience has shown to be the strongest donation months, between 2020 and 2023. The results shed light on both increased interest in donations – particularly for hunger relief and senior citizens – and a decline in donations for refugee aid and environmental projects. What is striking here are not only the changes in the areas of donation, but also regional differences in the willingness to donate.
Willingness to donate for hunger relief highest (year-on-year)
With the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Germans’ willingness to donate fell significantly in most areas. One exception was hunger relief, which saw a 100 per cent increase in Google search volume between December 2020 and December 2021. This trend also continued in the following year: Comparing the December months of 2021 and 2022, interest in hunger relief donations increased by 350 per cent, followed by donations for homeless relief (+84.62 per cent) and donations for seniors* (+57.14 per cent). In the most recent year-on-year comparison between December 2022 and December 2023, donations for children’s aid moved to the top of the ranking with a search volume increase of +28.57 per cent, followed closely by donations for senior citizens (+27.27 per cent) and cancer aid (+22.03 per cent). By contrast, interest in donating to refugee aid declined continuously between the December months of 2020 and 2023 (-63.64 per cent/ -34.38 per cent/ -47.62 per cent). Interest in donations to support tree planting fell similarly sharply (-55.56 per cent/ -45.00 per cent/ -32.95 per cent).
The search volume for donations in animal welfare and for hospitals remained stable over the entire study period and showed no significant changes in search behaviour.
Federal states with the highest incomes are not the most interested in donations
A look at the federal states shows: The willingness to donate was not greatest in the regions with the highest incomes. Between December 2020 and December 2021, there was no increase in the volume of searches for donations in any of the federal states. Interest fell particularly sharply in Bremen (-19.96 per cent), Lower Saxony (-19.65 per cent) and Schleswig-Holstein (-18.40 per cent). The following year showed a different picture: Comparing the December months of 2021 and 2022, the search volume for donations increased in almost all federal states. Low-income Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (+22.16 per cent), North Rhine-Westphalia (+19.46 per cent) and Schleswig-Holstein (+17.73 per cent) led the way. In a comparison of December 2022 and December 2023, the trend was mixed: while the willingness to donate increased in Saxony (+8.94 per cent) and Thuringia (+8.34 per cent), other federal states such as Bremen (-14.29 per cent) and high-income Baden-Württemberg (-8.19 per cent) recorded a decline.
Prof. Dr. Kyriakos Kouveliotis, Provost & Chief Academic Officer of the Berlin School of Business and Innovation comments on the analysis: “The willingness to donate depends, among other things, on economic factors such as the inflation rate. The declining interest in donations between December 2020 and 2021, which we were able to identify in our research, is also due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and people’s associated financial uncertainty. Donation behavior in connection with emergency situations in other countries is also striking. Google search volumes increased between December 2020 and 2021, particularly for donations for Afghanistan and Haiti. Between 2021 and 2022, interest in donations for Ukraine and Somalia in particular increased. It is also interesting to note that in the most recent year-on-year comparison from 2022 to 2023, donations for children’s aid was the most requested donation area, which indicates a growing awareness of disadvantaged children.”
About the study
The Google search volume for 50 donation terms between 2020 and 2023 was analysed. For the presentation, the December months that emerged as the months with the highest donations were compared with each other and ranked. In addition, the interest in donations in the individual federal states in the December months was determined and ranked. The donation terms included general donation-related keywords, specific keywords according to donation areas, keywords for specific organisations or crisis areas.