June 5, 2008

Immigration And Philanthropy: The Potential Of Both

By Eugene R. Tempel and Una Osili
The United States, a country with a rich heritage of welcoming newcomers, is currently experiencing a profound change in its demographic and cultural composition.

As the share of immigrants has grown, the public debate surrounding immigration policy has grown more controversial. Several analysts have argued that new immigrants will place a burden on U.S. communities and institutions. Others have suggested that recent immigrants might not adapt rapidly to U.S. social and economic institutions.

Much less attention, however, has been focused on how recent trends in immigration will affect the American nonprofit sector. This is an important topic. There is evidence already that nonprofits are eager to learn about how newcomers will impact service delivery, fundraising, and other aspects of their work.

Moreover, the sector can draw unique lessons and insights from understanding how immigrants adapt to U.S. philanthropic traditions.

At least one in eight U.S. residents, or 37.9 million people, was born abroad, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. U.S. Census Bureau statistics indicate that the foreign-born population increased by 11.3 million people, a 57.4 percent increase, between 1990 and 2000. The next wave of immigrant growth will come not only from new arrivals, but also from the children of immigrants already here. Those children account for 19 percent of school age children in this country, according to Randy Capps and his colleagues at the Urban Institute.

Many insights into how immigration could impact philanthropy can be gleaned from data from the Center on Philanthropy Panel Study (COPPS), conducted by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University in conjunction with the University of Michigan’s Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). COPPS, which follows the philanthropic behaviors of a representative sample of U.S. families -- including immigrant families -- throughout their lives and across generations, provides a unique opportunity to study demographic and cultural changes induced by immigration, how those may affect the nonprofit sector, and how immigrants’ philanthropy changes and develops over time.

Based on new evidence of charitable contributions, these research findings suggest that immigrants are being incorporated into U.S. philanthropic traditions, adapt rapidly to U.S. charitable institutions, and also have the potential to contribute to and transform nonprofits.

After controlling for the effects of other determinants of giving, such as income, wealth and education, immigrants are just as likely to contribute to charitable institutions as are native-born Americans, and they give similar amounts. After 10 years in the United States, immigrants’ giving is very similar to that of native-born Americans.

Changes in formal volunteering take longer, in part because volunteerism for nonprofits depends heavily on social connections that take time to form. As immigrants gain experiences in the U.S., they acquire language skills and social networks, obtain knowledge and information about organizations, and receive more requests to give. They become integrated into their larger communities, where philanthropy is a fundamental part of American civic and social life. Immigrants also tend to be affiliated with religious organizations, which can gradually familiarize them with formal philanthropy. By the second generation in immigrant families, differences in giving are nonexistent. In particular, children of immigrants are not statistically different from other native-born Americans in how and how much they give and volunteer for nonprofits.

In addition to participating in these forms of formal philanthropy, immigrants display generosity in other ways. They are more likely to engage in informal giving, such as “private transfers,” contributions of money and goods to individuals living outside the household, usually extended family, neighbors, and friends. This includes financial support and contributions towards education expenses, medical costs, and housing as well as funds to help cope with adverse shocks to income like unemployment and ill health, according to Jessica Chao, writing in a Council on Foundations publication, Cultures of Caring: Philanthropy in Diverse American Communities.

Center on Philanthropy research on such transfer behavior suggests that immigrant participation in informal giving tends to be relatively persistent over time. These less formal and more personal contributions have been an important part of the U.S. immigration experience. Children of immigrants are not statistically different from other native-born Americans in their informal giving behavior.

Immigrants’ transnational family ties and social networks outside the U.S. might also affect patterns of informal giving. In 2005, immigrant remittances to developing countries amounted to more than $200 billion, according to the World Bank. This figure represents a low estimate, since remittances can flow through informal channels that are not tracked.

Immigrants with immediate family members residing outside the United States might send remittances to family members, or channel their resource transfers toward hometown organizations and community development projects.

Traditions of informal giving in many immigrant communities might be motivated by the altruistic ties and reciprocity norms that link family members and close friends. In essence, transfers indicate a strong tradition of giving, demonstrating a philanthropic mindset, even if it looks different from American notions of charitable giving.

However, Chao indicated that immigrants often might not recognize informal giving as philanthropy, but rather consider it to be part of an individual’s social obligation to family and community networks.

The Center’s research findings suggest that this diverse group of newcomers -- immigrants and their children -- are well-positioned to contribute their resources and talents to U.S. philanthropic institutions. By participating in charitable giving, immigrants become part of a rich U.S. tradition of improving the well-being in communities where they reside. 

More broadly, immigrant involvement in charitable giving and volunteering, and other forms of civic engagement, can also have significant implications for building norms of trust and connectedness between immigrants and their native-born counterparts.

For nonprofits, one of the keys to raising support among immigrants is generating awareness by communicating organizations’ missions to immigrant audiences. Another key to support is raising awareness internally among the staff about how these potential donors live and give.

It is important to comprehend the diversity of immigrant communities, including the fact that there is likely to be a great deal of heterogeneity both within and across immigrant populations based on their own traditions and experiences in their countries of origin prior to migration. Nonprofits should understand how patterns of giving are established in these communities, and recognize that social networks are very important. Some of the ways to reach these populations might be different from how nonprofits have done fundraising in the past.

Many religious institutions are already doing a good job of enabling immigrants to integrate with their established congregations; some, for example, offer services in languages such as Spanish, Vietnamese, or Yoruba to reflect the growing diversity of their attendees.

Nonprofits can feature diverse populations in their publications and plan events specifically for immigrant groups. Organizations should also take advantage of social networks that already exist, for example, nonprofits could reach out to an immigrant community’s leaders.

If organizations attempt to overcome language and social barriers and reach immigrants early in their integration into U.S. communities, the possibility of developing long-term donor loyalty could increase dramatically. Individual charities are also more likely to attract donors if they use social networks and reach out through people who already have relationships with immigrants, such as a close friend, a clergyman, or colleague to solicit a donation.

As trends in immigration continue to shape American communities, nonprofits have an important role to play in the process of incorporating newcomers. It is also likely that recent U.S. immigrants have the potential to shape U.S. philanthropic institutions over time. The growing international mission of many U.S. nonprofits could be evidence that this is already taking place. Registered international organizations make up 2 percent of all charitable organizations, and this subsector appears to be growing more rapidly than other categories.

Nonprofits that recognize these changes will be equipped to respond in a timely fashion while developing strong relationships with immigrant communities that build on philanthropic traditions in the U.S. and abroad.

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Eugene R. Tempel is executive director of The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. Una Osili is Associate Professor of Economics and Philanthropic Studies at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis.

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This article is from NPT Instant Fundraising, a publication of The NonProfit Times.

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