Why I picked it up: Museum-goers tend to be readers, but are all readers museum-goers? Probably not. I don't expect this report to tell me why some readers don't visit museums, but it will likely tell me a bit more about information consumption. And how a very analog device is surviving in a digital world.

Source: Pew Research Center. I trust them and their methodology.

Fast facts:
​

• 3/4 of Americans said they read a book in the previous year (for any reason). This is a lot higher than the 55% reported by the NEA in their 2012 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA), but there is a reason why: SPPA asked about pleasure reading, outside of work/school. Thus, we can assume about half of Americans read at least one/book year for pleasure, and an additional quarter of Americans read out of necessity.
• The median number of books read by all Americans is 4.
• Only 6% of Americans are exclusively digital readers. Think young adults do it more? Nope. 6% as well. But smartphone reading is most popular with non-whites, those with lower education.
• Most likely to read? College graduates, those with higher incomes, women, and young adults (many of whom are in school).
• Why read? Among readers:
  • 84% to research a specific topic of interest (decreasing rates as people get older)
  • 82% to keep up with current events (age not a factor)
  • 80% for pleasure (age not a factor)
  • 57% for work or school (age very much a factor)

Implications for museums: People still look to certain types of media for information, and books are a key one, with 4/5 of readers turning to books (among other sources) to research specific topics - that is 60% of all Americans.

Of course, in our world of alternative facts and fake news, the question is will that be a boon, or challenge, for books (and libraries) … and for museums. I'll be curious how this data may shift over the next few years, as they resample.

Additionally, signs are that we are shifting out of a period where early prognostications suggested that everything that could be digitized, would be, and that digital was better. Now, there is a growing realization that analog and digital resources work well together to provide individuals with what they need in the format that works best for that need. Sometimes that's digital (collections databases, blogs, etc.). Sometimes that's analog (long-form reading).

Overall, I think that is good news for museums, which are, generally, rather analog places one visits for real-life experiences. Digital programming extends a museum's potential reach, certainly, but doesn’t serve the same function as an actual visit. Nor should we expect it to. They serve different purposes and needs. (Though all this may change when VR gets really good and overcomes some of its inherent flaws.)

Read or skip? Skip. I'll keep following what Pew releases and update as needed. Though if you are really interested, it only takes about 15 minutes to read.

Full citation:  "Book Reading 2016." Research report published by Pew Research Center. Released September 2016.

Have a suggestion for my reading list?  Email it to me at susie (at) wilkeningconsulting (dot) com.

Quick take: I found this book fascinating. Incredibly useful for the complexity of how generosity happens; the latter 2/3 of the book were fantastic. The first third, however, was riddled with data errors that I suspect were due to poor copy-editing. Finally, the whole thing didn't need to be a book, but a great info-graphic with a supporting 30-page report.

Fortunately, I dug through it, and am giving you the best bits. By the end of the book, the research had "snapped" into a virtual Topography of Giving in my head. I know that sounds weird (and I am weird). Now that I have this topography in my head, however, I'm trying to see how it maps against museum-going and giving to museums. Thus, this is a long, denser review. But persevere! It will still take you far less time than reading the book, and the part about "how and why people give" (below) is worth it.


Why I picked it up: I am curious about why people make financial contributions to charities, and to museums in particular. And also why so few museum members become donors. This book doesn't address museum giving, but I hoped it would help me get into the mind of potential and current members and donors.


Overall premise of survey, brief data notes: Two researchers applied a "sociological perspective" to American giving, based on findings of a national study by the Science of Generosity Initiative at the University of Notre Dame. Research took place in 2010, and it took them six years to release it in this book.

Generosity is defined as "giving good things to others freely and abundantly." This isn't the same as philanthropy, which is narrower. Additionally, they studied nine types of generosity, focusing on three big ones (financial gifts, volunteering, and political action). To simplify this review, I'm only going to focus on financial gifts.

Their methodology looks good. But I found the text contradicting itself multiple times in the first two chapters, in ways that made absolutely no sense. My gut says poor copy-editing, but I ended up not spending considerable time here. That's OK. There's plenty of other philanthropy data out there. Some interesting points, however:​

• 90% of Americans participated in at least one form of generosity in previous year
• 25% volunteered in previous month
• Non-elderly retired are less likely to volunteer than younger adults (which means if working Boomers are not volunteering now, they are unlikely to do so upon retirement)
• 20% participated in some form of political action (above and beyond voting) in previous year (note this was 2010; see my update at The Data Museum)
• Only 10% give financially and volunteer and take political action
• Nearly half (45%) of Americans gave nothing in previous year, while nearly a quarter (23%) gave more than $500

How and why people give (the fantastic bits!): The research went into four factors that drive a gift. I'm presenting them in a different order than the authors, but in the order I think makes more sense to how they are (likely unconsciously) experienced.


1. Personal orientation towards giving.

Does an individual value generosity? Why do an estimated 2/3 of the population value generosity, while a quarter are neutral about it and 10% say they are not generous individuals? What are the individual values that someone has that drives a tendency towards generosity? Five attitudes seemed to drive if someone is generous (or not):

1. Social solidarity - the sense that we are all in this together
2. Collective conscious - we have a shared purpose; also influences size of gift
3. Prosperity outlook - mattered the most - the idea that there is plenty of resources to go around and it isn't a zero-sum game; also influences size of gift
4. Acquisition seeking - wanting material gains - negatively associated
5. Social responsibility - we are all responsible for, and to, each other; also influences size of gift

They examined two more attitudes that do not seem to affect if someone is generous or not:

1. Life purpose - we are here for a reason; does not affect whether they give or not, but does affect size of gift
2. Social trust - of others/strangers

Shockingly (to me), they interviewed some individuals that said things like "it's not a moral obligation [to help others]." To themselves and their families, sure, it is. But not others. Wow.

The frustrating bit here is that while they identified these attitudes, they had no discussion of how these attitudes came to be. Such as external forces that shape, instruct, and model behavior in front of children. Yeah, I'm talking about parents primarily. I suspect they are key in value formation, and I wish the authors had addressed this head on. They didn't.


2. Social affiliations that support/not support personal orientation.

That is, the people around us. How do they inspire and support giving? Six social affiliations, and if they are generous (or at least perceived that way) seem to matter:

1. Parents (learning from and their modeling giving behavior)
2. Spouse or partner
3. Religion
4. Friends
5. Local community
6. National affiliation

Of all these, the last two are weakest, and parents are the strongest. Some additional findings from this factor:
​

• When spouses are not in alignment on generosity, it tends to have a greater negative pull towards non-giving rather than the generous spouse pulling the other towards giving.
• Only 12% had a personal value that generosity was important AND higher than average reinforcement from the above affiliations. That's not much.
• People who don't particularly value generosity can be givers if they are surrounded by social affiliations full of givers. That's a big if.

But, overall, social affiliations serve to strengthen giving; in almost all cases valuing generosity has to come first.

I was, however, somewhat frustrated by this section as the authors don't explore how these social affiliations can drive an individual's development of values, including generosity, in the first place. Instead, they state that these affiliations are independent and do not affect anything else. Honestly, I don't buy it. Maybe during adulthood, but these affiliations certainly shape a child's moral development … an area ripe for study and one ignored in this research.


3. Capacity to give.

To discuss this, the authors borrowed from Maslow, identifying four stages of giving that essentially mirror his hierarchy of needs. They noted, however, that they were looking at how resources and life stage affects how much/how broadly someone who is generous gives, not whether someone actually gave to charity. That is, someone who is generous may only be at the first level, and have no capacity to act on that generosity, but would if they had the resources.

That being said, let's look at those levels, and how capacity to give can help move people up the hierarchy.

• Level 1: Self-sufficiency - taking care of self and not being a burden to others
• Level 2: Relational-parental - taking care of immediate family members so as not to be a burden to others; working to provide opportunities to family members to improve family outcomes (such as working multiple jobs to enable a child to go to college)
• Level 3: Community-religious - helping others in your community through giving locally and through houses of worship (e.g., tithing). Rather concrete giving where the giver sees how it benefits the community; feeling like they are part of community of givers.
• Level 4: Self-actualized giving (they called it professional-lifestyle, but I don't think that is totally accurate) - Broader giving that goes beyond personal communities, and can be more abstract. They also include giving to maintain professional and social standing.​

To distinguish between the last two, it is the difference between sponsoring a child through, say Save the Children, where you see concrete results for one child (community-religious) versus supporting anti-poverty or relief organizations generally, such as Doctors Without Borders. Or, thinking of museums, a museum member could be at the relational-parental level, joining to provide enrichment experiences for children (and my data suggests science centers and children's museums have a lot of these members). But a major donor could fall into the self-actualized giving, perhaps for social standing reasons, but also perhaps inherently valuing the capacity of museums to change lives (I say inherently because museums really lack data on this one).

Note also that having ample resources does not mean generous giving. You have to value generosity as well (and be surrounded by givers helps too). That is, someone can be very wealthy and only take care of themselves and their family. And, similarly, having limited resources doesn't mean someone isn't a self-actualized giver. Limited can still mean having a capacity to give.


4. Their giving process.

Being financially generous isn't a simple ask/give transaction. It's more complicated than that, as every good development director inherently knows. They identified four main types of givers:

1. Planners - 16% of Americans - they think very deliberately about their giving, and set up a systematic way of doing it. Thoughtful. Like to hear results. Museums: they probably are your renewing members and regular donors, but you have to earn their gift every year
2. Habitual - 6% of Americans - they are in the habit of giving, and once they include a specific charity in their giving, it is on auto-pilot. Kind of like another bill that has to be paid, or even tithing. How does a charity get included in their giving? It basically just happens. It is not something that has been given a huge amount of thought. Museums: they probably also are renewing members and regular donors, once you are in their "system." Trick is to get into their system.
3. Selective - 17% of Americans - they are deliberate in their giving in that think through a gift when the opportunity is presented. But they are not systematic about it at all, so they are also inconsistent givers. Museums: this means the pitch has to be right, but they likely have low renewal and recurring rates.
4. Impulsive - 42% of Americans - gifts are spontaneous, on a case-by-case basis, with low rates of recurrence. They will text money to disaster relief, or sponsor a co-worker in a race. Museums: they likely have low rates of membership in a museum. Membership would be a snap judgment at the admission desk, and unlikely to be renewed.
5. Other - 19% of Americans - did not fall neatly into any category, but their behaviors have them more typical of non-givers than givers.

This section is probably the most directly useful to museum fundraising, because if you can figure out what type of giver someone is, you can tailor the pitch. You can even combine tactics that appeal to all four types of givers in one request.


Implications for museums: Just as motivations to visit museums (or not) is a complicated topography of individuals, so is giving. Figuring out how they work together is key, because that enables broadening reach and gifts. And it is something I am in the process of internalizing and applying to my work.

For example, I suspect that many planners also are HNCs (have a high need for cognition) and are intrinsically motivated to learn. The traits of planners as described in this book strike me as similar. And I suspect impulsive givers are less likely to visit museums regularly for similar reasons … and when they do they do so for relational-parental reasons (above), which would be extrinsic. See? Complicated topography.

This leads me to some questions that I'm going to apply to the 2017 Annual Survey of Museum-Goers, that I have just pulled from the field. I want to think through the Topography of Giving as I do my analysis, especially given I asked specific questions about philanthropy and motivations for learning (intrinsic vs. extrinsic). I also want to compare it to my mental Topography of Museum-Going.

Then, on top of that, I want to layer it on a Topography of Community Engagement that I have been thinking about as well. This meshes with the values factors considered in the "personal orientation towards giving," and may be rather important.

I'll look at all of that because, well heck, it is a complicated and fascinating world, and it all matters to museums. Stay tuned to The Data Museum over the coming months as I release those results.


Read or skip? For most a skip. My summary and review will be sufficient. But if your read this and light bulbs were lighting up in your head, then go get a copy and you, too, can think obsessively about it. And likely sharpen your development skills.


Full citation: Herzog, Patricia Snell, and Price, Heather E. American Generosity: Who Gives and Why. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.


Have a suggestion for my reading list?  Email it to me at susie (at) wilkeningconsulting (dot) com.